Mending hatred
by Trezzan
Summary: Six years post-war. Draco works as a healer trying to make up for his past sins, an unexpected patient captures his interest more than he deems professional but he can't let go of it. Features a humble Draco and a war-torn Hermione. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

With confidence Draco stepped out of the elevator on St Mungo's third floor, where he worked as a healer. A nurse greeted him and he smiled politely.

"Good morning," was all he said as he made his way to his office after he'd heard her reply the same. His guess was that she'd been working the nightshift and was now heading home. That was not, however, the case for him. He had a lot of patients to meet today, he noticed as he sat down by his desk and rifled through his neatly sorted files and paperwork. Another paper had been left there in addition to his already assigned daily duties and patients.

 _Seven more?_ He thought to himself as he noticed the amount of patients today had been duplicated. He shot a gaze at the frame on his desk where he had his arm around the beautiful girl he was living with. She looked just as fashionable as himself. They looked quite perfect together, if his opinions mattered. Draco got up from the chair again after checking the time, deciding now was a good time for tea before patients started arriving or needed tending. As usual he changed from his expensive dark-grey trench coat to his healer robe. The robe had a fresh looking lime green colour that he liked. The fact that he was a Slytherin at school for many years had adjusted him to liking the colour in all its shades.

"Mr Malfoy?" said a voice from his door. The receptionist, a middle-aged woman with curled red hair, shot him a disapproving look.

"Yes, Mrs Parker?"

"You have a guest, I'd have thought it suited not to have personal types of those here if you please," she said, explaining her disapproval.

"My father? I've tried to…" She had left the room before he was able to explain himself. Lucius would often pass by at the hospital on his way to the ministry or what other business he had, despite Draco's attempts to have him send an owl or something so that his father would stop embarrassing him in front of his co-workers. Just as he was about to step outside his father stepped in.

"Don't worry, I won't stay for long. I made sure I was here early this time," the man clad in black said.

"It wouldn't surprise me if you drank a malicious potion to be able to come here while I work," Draco answered.

"Oh I think Mrs Parker would like that, she finds me very handsome."

"Very bothersome you mean, do you have anything special to share with me or did you just want to annoy my receptionist?" he asked and gave his father a questioning look.

"Yes, Draco, your mother and I have decided that we're giving you a younger sibling."

"What?" Draco's jaw was about to hit the ground as Lucius spoke again.

"No, that was a joke, here."

He stuck a hand inside his black robe and gracefully withdrew an envelope marked with a red stamp and the Malfoy family seal.

"What's this?"

"You could read it with your morning tea, I have other things to attend to so I won't be bothering you any longer. We'll still have dinner later this week?"

"Yes, of course father."

...

A few minutes later Draco sat down in the third floor cafeteria with his morning tea, non-sugar but with some cream, and was carefully opening the envelope by breaking the seal with the other end of his spoon. Inside there was a letter and, not too surprising, it was from his father. Why he wouldn't tell him this face to face? Draco could not understand. He did, after all, deliver it himself.

 _"_ _Dearest Draco,_

 _I'm going to tell you about a girl I met when I was young, with whom I planned to stay and have a happy life with. She was beautiful, kind and pureblooded. My family approved of her and hers approved of me. But it wasn't until I met your mother that I understood what was important about having a relationship with someone. You were supposed to feel things, struggle and after a fight you would fight even more to get back to a person you loved. Your mother made me want to fight for her, over her, with her. But this girl did not. This girl gave me only safety and it was boring, even though we had a great deal of fun together and were respectable in the eyes of our society, I'd rather have your mother. Which was very much not acceptable, seeing that I broke up my engagement to be with her. Your mother was a Black, this you know, so while it was technically acceptable, the circumstances meant that social events were strange for a while after that. I held my back straight and I was with the woman I loved, the one who made me feel alive. And the rest you know"_

Draco finished reading the first page of the letter and raised his eyebrow, where was his father going with this? He took two sips of his tea and turned the letter to continue reading.

 _"_ _I am trying to make you understand that any rash decisions you would make at this point will be accepted, our weekly dinners have brought me into thinking that maybe the only thing you're getting out of your relationship is safety and I want to tell you that it's okay to be impulsive. I'm not trying to encourage you if you do not feel how I think you do, but if you do… Your mother also accepts it._

 _Love,_

 _Your father."_

Draco rubbed his chin and snickered quietly, so he guessed that his parents didn't like his girlfriend after all. What a polite way to tell him, he thought.

...

"Astoria?" he shouted into the apartment as he closed the door after him and started taking his trench coat off. All day he had been thinking about this moment, between patients that had been poisoned or overdosed on potions.

"Yes darling?" The girl answered, coming out from their living room clad in short shorts and a tight t-shirt. She was so pretty, maybe he should wait a few hours to talk with her. He shook his head internally and gave her a concerning look, he didn't want to hurt her and yet he didn't really care. First of all she was some years younger than he, both body wise and in regards to maturity.

"I think we should break up," he said. She didn't seem surprised and he wanted to smash his head into a wall. _Perfect way_ _to drop the bomb Draco. PERFECT._

"Yeah me too, it's just… It's not any fun or anything you know."

"Precisely, but some things are just great. I guess that's why we worked for so long." He smirked at her, she crossed her arms and replied with a smirk of her own.

"Break-up sex?" She asked and he raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you want me to move out right away?"

He replied by walking up, taking a firm hold of her hands and pressing his lips to hers.

"You can do that tomorrow when I'm at work," he mumbled.

...

 _A/N this is the first fanfiction I've written in english and I'm sort of proud, the chapter was published twice and then I got it beta-read and now it's here again, so please leave a review, those makes my day._


	2. Chapter 2

Arriving at work after some mind-blowing morning exercises with the same confident walk out of the elevator, he smiled at his receptionist and at the night nurse who was on her way to leave. As he stepped into his office he heard Mrs Parker answering a call on the floo network. He got curious but decided that he would find out if any plans were to be changed as the day progressed.

He decided to change robes before overlooking his workday and as he straightened out the sleeves on his lime green healer outfit he decided that he could throw away the photo on his desk now, if he ever were to look back on his relationship with Astoria he would be satisfied if not surprised over how easy it could be to break up with a girl. He sat down in his chair after the task was completed and lay down his wand on his desk while reading through the paper regarding his tasks for the day, compared to the day before there was hardly any work and he thought about owling his mother out for lunch as he saw that he had a gap around that time when a knock on the door disturbed him.

"Come in," he responded and the day nurse, Miss Jones, slowly opened the door and peaked in. Her gaze quickly moved from the desk where the photo had been, to the trash bin and back towards Draco.

"Mrs Parker told me that she had a last minute patient for you right before lunch seeing as you were the only healer who didn't have anything on your schedule," she told him with an American accent.

"Thank you", he said and smiled at her. She blushed and closed the door after her when she left, just about the time it took for Draco to roll his eyes at the intern, he then rose from his office chair, tucked his wand into his robe and left for morning tea and his first patient for the day, a permanent resident at the third floor department for Potions Poisoning.

"Oh Healer Malfoy, did you find another set of bottles for me?" the man on the bed asked Draco as he poured the right amount of antidote into a vial for the man to drink. He had happened upon an insanity potion many years ago during the second wizarding war and hadn't gotten an antidote fast enough for the effects not to be semi-permanent. Some days were better than others for the man but he was unreliable enough for them not to be able to have home care handle him.

"I'm sorry I did not, if I do I will bring you some. They _are_ very hard to come by. I could ask a nurse to check more thoroughly?" Draco suggested.

"No, those nurses are so rude," the man replied.

"Alright mister, I'll see what I can do. Now drink up," he ordered and handed over the vial and the man did as he was ordered.

"Thank you, and before you ask. Today is better, I haven't felt weird since the last antidote. You said it was a new one, did you not?"

"Yes, the other healers and I have been conducting it, most others antidotes and potions are handled by the ministry."

"Do you think it will work?" the man beamed, clearly a bit over enthusiastic, Draco couldn't blame him, he did the opposite, he understood him.

"I have no idea, we'll hope for the best won't we?"

"At this rate I will do anything to get away from here! No offense healer, but it's boring," Draco almost snickered but kept quiet at the chosen words from the man.

"Any other things you think I should document, are you feeling worse in any way?" Draco questioned.

"No, apart from not having my bottles." Draco scribbled words down and checked some boxes on the parchment that was clasped onto a wooden board with a metal clam. His condition was good and the antidote wasn't to be administered again before thirty-six hours had passed barring if something drastic were to happen. Which he doubted considering that the man had just been able to go twenty-four hours without the antidote that he himself had put a stamp on.

"Good, I'll see you again tomorrow."

Draco almost forgot about the patient that had been scheduled into the empty space before lunch until he had taken off his robe. He had changed back quickly and went to the waiting room with the patient's journal in hand, there had been no one there so he went to his receptionist and asked.

"Nurse Jones sent her into room number four, she needed to lie down."

"Did nurse check for any symptoms?" Draco asked. Mrs Parker raised an eyebrow, which made Draco turn his heel and move his feet towards room number four. Mrs Parker thought he was a moron, she just didn't say it right-out.

"Why would nurse check for symptoms, she has better things to do than run your errands you blonde brat," Mrs Parker muttered under her breath.

He shoved the door open with his shoulder at the same time as he opened the journal in his hand.

"Ah Miss ..." he was about to say but he was interrupted.

"Oh _hell_ no!" a sharp voice stabbed him right through air, the woman in front of him got up from the hospital bed quicker than he'd thought possible and darted through the door. He stumbled after, muffled.

"I demand another healer!" The woman cried to the receptionist who shot her a sympathetic look, of course you didn't want that healer. Draco wasn't exactly surprised, some patients knew that he had been a death eater and had reacted in the same way earlier, some were too polite and figured out that he was kinder than his reputation and some, like the insanity resident that he'd have to win over from his opinions at first.

"I DEMAND IT!" the woman rapidly repeated. Mrs Parker shot a glance in Draco's direction and sighed.

* * *

Reviews are very much appreciated, please leave one! Love, Trezzan.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sorry dear, there is no other healer available and according to the symptoms you spoke of earlier, you need medical care right away," Mrs Parker, Draco's receptionist, told the woman in front of her.

"Do you realise who I am?" the woman demanded her to answer with a venomous voice.

"Yes Miss Granger I do. I'm sorry, it doesn't change anything. We believe in equality here at St. Mungo's."

" _Clearly_ ," the brunette spat out and shot a rude look in Draco's direction.

"Please follow Healer Malfoy into room number four, otherwise we'll have to force you," Mrs Parker said calmly but the wand she grasped in her right hand revealed the seriousness of the threat.

Hermione spun around on the place and started walking towards Draco and passed him quickly and as he turned to close the door she had sat down on the hospital bed again.

"So, Miss Granger," he started politely, yet a bit uncertain, "how are you feeling, any particular places it hurts more?"

"Stomach," she replied coldly yet somewhat nervous.

"Does the pain increase?"

"Not at the moment no."

"Then I must ask what happened?"

"I was going to drink my daily potion of caffeine but I grabbed the wrong one and being tired and, I drank it without noticing. It was only after I drank it that I realised it tasted different and that it was another bottle. Then I started panicking and I accidentally made all of these potion bottles fall down in the sink," she paused and looked kind of ashamed but too mad at being stuck with Draco and him being the one hearing about this. He must have thought she was so dumb.

"I assume they exploded and you breathed in the fumes?"

"Yes, unfortunately," she admitted and their eyes met for a moment before she looked down at her hands again.

"Do you have a list of the potions you kept?" Draco inquired but all he got was a shrug from Hermione.

"It kind of wasn't my collection of potions", she said, and shuffled on the bed while Draco took notes.

"Well one of the symptoms I've noticed is hysteria so I'll get the antidote for that right away. I'm afraid the rest will require testing," he said and put the folder with her name on it down.

"Hysteria? I'm not hysterical?!" she exclaimed.

He didn't want to offend her so he just opened the door, preparing to leave.

"Please wait here Miss Granger, while I get the supplies."

…

The potions room was guarded with two spells and a charmed key, so that the potion addicts wouldn't stumble upon them. Draco grabbed two different bottles, one containing an antidote to common poisons and the other containing an antidote to uncommon poisons. He then relocked the potions room with both spells and the key that only the nurses and healers had. On his way back to the room number four he also grabbed a set of needles and blood bags so that he could run tests after she had drunk the potions he had gathered for his patient. Once again he shoved the door open and walked back into the room.

"That took enough time," she muttered as she sat up again. "It hurts more now."

"Stomach still?" Draco quickly asked.

"Yes," she replied and took the potions he offered. He put the needle table down on the instrument bench and waited for her to drink the potions, he wrote down notes in her file about what potions she had received from said healer and what symptoms she had shown at arrival.

"Do the potions help anything?"

"My head feels lighter and clearer now."

"That's good, better than I had expected," Hermione arched her eyebrow at him being slightly concerned about her health condition.

"Stomach still hurts, though, a lot more now," he put down the folder again and walked across the floor to her as she lay down in an attempt to resist the pain.

"May I?" Draco asked as he approached her stomach with his hands. She nodded and he pulled her shirt up so that he could touch her skin. As he did he couldn't help but notice how _good_ her skin felt against his hands, she shivered and he started putting pressure on the stomach.

"Does this feel alright?" he questioned as he put pressure on different parts of her stomach, all of them hurt; none more, none less. They all hurt majorly.

"Can you give me anything to help or not?" she finally spat out as he started to feel how unnatural warm her stomach was starting to become.

"I'll be right back, I'll hurry," he said and pulled her shirt down, quickly disappeared behind the closed door and was back in mere moments.

"The antidote against common poisons didn't work, but you should eat this," he said and handed her an insect.

"Are you serious?"

"Only if you despise being in that much pain Miss Granger."

She threw him a dirty look and swallowed the insect whole. Draco had actually lied, it was to combat her hysteria but she would never have eaten it otherwise. As she seemed to be very much certain that she wasn't being hysterical.

"And exactly what is that?" she asked as he started pouring a thickened potion onto a plate.

"It's Burning Bitterroot Balm, I'm going to smear it over your stomach as a second part of the treatment," Hermione gave him an uncertain nod and pulled her shirt up knowingly. A red rash had started appearing across her belly and Draco tried to hurry with getting the balm out of the potion bottle. He put the plate down next to her and dug plenty of it up with his hand before carefully placing it on her stomach. A satisfied noise escaped her mouth, Draco stopped for but a second in his movement. That sound was very _satisfying_. He continued placing all of the balm on her almost boiling stomach until it was clad in a thick layer. He really shouldn't be thinking like that about any patient, especially not her, the girl he had bullied during all of his school years.

"The instructions now are to stay like this for an hour, preferably lying down but if you have to move you can."

"So I can't leave?"

"No, you have shown very nasty symptoms. I think you might even have to stay the night."

"But I need to feed my cat!"

" _You_ have a cat?" He let slip out as he was scribbling in the journal wearing her name again.

He regretted the words as quickly as he had said them.

"Oh shut up Malfoy, am I not allowed a pet or what?"

"Please, Granger, I'm sorry," he said as he placed her file neatly in the box on the wall.

"Sorry for what exactly?" was this Hermione Granger demanding an excuse for being treated like shit by teenage Draco?

"For being rude, of course you can have a pet, it's just… A _cat?_ They're a bit prejudicial aren't they, lonely cat women and all?"

"For your information, no I'm not a lonely cat woman. I'm not even surprised you're being prejudicial to be honest," she sneered, Draco not wanting to throw an argument with his patient, left it at those words, managing at being hit by the hurtful words, he wasn't like that anymore.

"I'll be back in an hour for the tests Miss Granger, you can call on the nurses if you need anything," he said to end the conversation and then he opened the door and left her there. Before he left for lunch he told Mrs Parker about Hermione's situation and assigned her to write her into St Mungo's night care. She would be staying.


	4. Chapter 4

Even though Draco hadn't informed his mother about having a longer lunch than usual, he was surprised to meet her down in St Mungo's lobby. She wore a black coat, high heels and didn't quite seem to fit into the environment.

"You thought you could avoid lunch with me when you were having a longer one now didn't you?" she said as he embraced her.

"I was going to owl you mum, but I do have a patient now, came in forty five minutes ago with all sorts of symptoms," Draco explained as they left the hospital building and started strolling down the pavement to the lunch place they always shared.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know, but never mind it, we can still enjoy a short lunch," Narcissa assured with a smile.

...

Disregarding the fact that Narcissa had questioned Draco about his thoughts on his father's letter and had subsequently drilled him for all the details regarding why he actually broke up with "that Greengrass girl", the lunch was actually pretty satisfying. That he now was heading into Hermione Grangers room again concerned him. She hated him, and for justifiable reasons too. He didn't criticize her, and what truly concerned him was that he might fail at being professional just because she wouldn't cooperate. So far, so good though, so maybe he was just being silly. He shoved the door open again like he had done the other times and walked in, a bit mad about the fact that this woman whom he had not been very fond of – ever, was taking up his "free" time.

"Is it better?" he asked as she sat up.

"Yes, very, do you think I'll be able to go home today then?" she demanded to know.

"No, you should be feeling better but there will be side-effects later, I'll have to stay past my working hours so that I can see to your needs and medical care," Draco explained and Hermione raised and eyebrow questioningly at him.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, I'm doing my job! Don't glare at me like I'm fourteen, please."

"I can't help it, you just don't seem like the Malfoy I've had the unfortunate luck to run into in my younger years," she said with a nasty undertone.

"I grew up," Draco replied and plucked up the file regarding Hermione, just to add a few details concerning her health and information about what potions she had gotten.

"Clearly. So, about my cat? I kind of panicked this morning so he has no food, would you mind getting me a owl or something so I could write Ginny?" Hermione snapped, obviously unhappy about the situation.

"I could apparate there now and do it if you'd allow me, just so you will stop complaining about it." Draco had reached his limit. Could she stop acting like such a know-it-all?

"You don't know where I live."

"I have your address right here in your file you know."

"Oh."

"But if it feels strange I can arrange a nurse to help you owl your friend," he assured her.

"I would prefer that," she responded offensively.

"We're going to do some tests now, please pull your left sleeve up," he said calmly but with an edge to his voice, telling her he was getting tired of her rudeness. _Act professional_ , he thought.

"Are you serious, my left arm? Are you trying to mock me?" she questioned harshly.

"It's the closest to the heart, I'm afraid, why are you being so hostile?" But she didn't have to respond when he closed up on her lying on the bed, left arm visible. He didn't notice at first as he searched her arm for a good vein to take the blood test from.

"Oh," his movement had stopped and he was staring down on her arm, the word 'mudblood' carved into her arm.

"I'm sorry about that," he said.

"It wasn't you who carved it into me."

"No but I called you those names many years ago, so I'm sorry."

She glared at him but looked away as he had now pulled forth a needle and some vials to store the blood in. A minute later he declared it done. He soared his wand over the arm and it stopped bleeding on command.

"Is it done?" she asked.

"Yes, but I'll have to see if the potions damaged your body in any other way," he said and waited a few moments.

"Well are you going to?"

"Yes, could I ask you to remove your clothing?" he requested. "I could have a nurse do it but I don't really trust anyone on doing that spell except for one of the healers."

"No it's okay I guess," she said, unmistakably not liking the idea of being in her underwear while being examined by Draco Malfoy.

"I could leave the room if it would make it easier," he told her.

"No it's… It's okay, you'll see me just the same anyway."

 _Probably not,_ he thought but kept his mouth shut. Moments later she lay down on her back again in a darkened room while Draco slowly started hovering his wand over her foot, slowly taking it upwards her body, examining what he saw through the spell's blue light. Nothing had happened to her left side with the exception of her stomach that was filled with now dying infections and inflammations caused by some sort of potion. When he hovered the wand over the right side of her body though, he found something just above her right leg that concerned him, a large inflammation that certainly wasn't caused by anything magical.

"Miss Granger, I think we should do some more tests," was all he said. Hermione gave him a worried look but nodded.

...

Draco sent for a nurse to do the ovarian tests as he didn't want to make her more uncomfortable than she already was, being her school bully's patient and all. Draco took care of the rest of his patients for the day and went to check on Hermione again when he was going to end his working day, as it seemed she had been moved to the common room for guests at the potion department.

He casually walked through the corridors and past his office door until he arrived where the residents were enjoying their afternoon together. Hermione was talking to one of his patients and it seemed rather intense so he left it to the nurses to look after the woman. A woman who had grown up to be quite beautiful. She might despise him but at least she knew that he was another man now. He smiled at the view, changed the direction of his feet and went home.

* * *

I hope you enjoy reading my story, it has been beta-read by TheresMusicInMyEars which I appreciate so much, all the previous chapters have been replaced by proof-read ones thanks to my beta-reader! If you enjoy it, make sure to leave a review! Also I'd like to thanks for the follows and favourites, it means a lot!

Love /Trezzan


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the follows guys! It makes me happy considering I've had the shittiest day in a long time today and I just want to curl up in a corner and cry.  
Alan Rickman died and damn I've cried, so much. May he find peace and let us hope he didn't suffer. That man was amazing.  
I just feel really shitty otherwise to.  
Anyhow, if you like the chapter, please leave a review. It would mean a lot!

* * *

When Draco arrived home though, he was surprised because Astoria greeted him with a hug when he stepped into the door. Nothing seemed out of place and she seemed as happy as always.

"Hi darling," she said and kissed him on the cheek, "had a good day?"

"Listen Astoria, I was serious yesterday," was all he could muster letting out of his tired vocabulary. She shook her head.

"Don't be silly!" she laughed dismissively, "We've been together for three years. Our families love each other."

"Well I don't love you and that's the truth," Draco told her harshly. Maybe he shouldn't have bought the distraction she had offered the day before, being dressed like that and all, it was better today because now she was wearing a hoodie and jeans.

"You don't mean that, don't be silly," she repeated.

"I do mean that, you have to move out Astoria."

"If you were serious yesterday then why did you take advantage of me like that?"

"Because you were smoking hot, you knew that." Astoria's smile faded and she started glaring at him instead. She seemed to consider what to say and took a deep breath. Maybe she was considering hexing him.

"I'm not joking." He assured her, not losing eye-contact even though he showed no emotion.

"I just couldn't believe you were being serious, but have it your way you moron, I'm leaving," she said, darted past him and slammed the door in his face when she was on the other side. He could hear an angry scream on the other side of the door and decided that he would apparate to Pansy's. She would be reasonable, being officially off the market since he considered her his sister. They had pulled each other's hair growing up, you couldn't act more like siblings than that. Just as he heard Astoria coming back into the hallway outside the apartment he thought it was a good time to flee the scene and apparated to Pansy's garden.

...

"Draco!" the page-cut girl squealed and hugged him, clearly excited to see him, "You never visit anymore!"

"Sorry Pansy, I work all the time, but now I just dumped Astoria so I need to get out of the apartment for a few hours while she disappears," he said and walked into Pansy's hallway.

"You finally did it? Oh merlin, I've been hoping and praying for it, she's like twelve and she's no fun. Now you and I can party like hell Draco."

"Did everyone hate our relationship?" he asked her as he hung his robes off the back of a chair standing there.

"Well when I talked to your mother about it…"

Draco started snickering.

"You talked to my mother about it? No wonder she supported my father when he sent me that letter with the hidden meaning of 'you should dump your girlfriend' in it."

"Yeah, and Daphne and I had this bet on whether you would dump Astoria or if she would dump you," she told him and grinned. "She owes me one-hundred galleons."

"She seemed pretty upset, Astoria I mean. Daphne'll probably be super mad at me for a while."

"I don't think Astoria even liked you that much Draco," Pansy declared.

"What? Well I wouldn't have thought so yesterday when she asked for break-up sex in the most stunning tiny outfit," he paused, "but she thought I was joking and got really pissed about it today."

"You didn't go through the dumping yesterday because she was hot then? What are you Draco, fifteen?" Draco sat down on a chair by the kitchen island's dinner section and kept his eyes on Pansy while she started cooking. He chose to ignore her rude question.

"So, since when do you cook?"

"Since I met this guy."

"You're interested in boys, seriously? Wow," Draco mocked and Pansy looked like she was about to throw her spatula at him before she restrained herself.

"Oh shut up," she ended up saying.

"Who's the lucky guy I'm going to hit if he ever hurts you?" Draco seriously asked this time around.

"He's Italian," she said dreamily and it was only then that Draco noticed her sun kissed skin.

"When were you in Italy?"

"Last week actually."

"We should probably meet more often so that I know about things like this," Draco told her.

"Well I'm going there in two weeks, at the end of that week. You can come if you want to meet Mr Italy. He has dolphins."

Draco let out a loud laugh.

"You're telling me you're going to date a guy with dolphins, wow."

"Your father has white peacocks in his yard, never forget that Draco."

"There's a difference", Draco pointed out.

"No, there's really not."

"Sure, I'll accompany you to Italy, but I'll have to check that there's nothing coming up at work, and you'll have to promise help me stay away from that bloody ministry event in three weeks. I might puke on someone this year," Draco insisted.

"I'll do my best Drakie."

...

When Draco got back home the place was empty, none of Astoria's things to be found anywhere around the apartment. She had even taken the opportunity to snatch both tables so that Draco had to eat on his lap until he could be bothered to go out shopping for furniture. The table, both the one in the kitchen and the one in the living room had been Astoria's ideas, she had bought them with her own money and surprised Draco with a wonderful dinner as a plus package the same evening, so Draco supposed that she deserved to keep those darn tables. He threw himself onto the couch, pulled a blanket over his body and thought about that one annoying and persistent patient he'd stumbled onto today, she'd made it very hard for him to handle it professionally. Some hatred just never cooled down, he assumed and he drifted into an uneasy sleep. It was usually like that, nightmares about his past that never seemed to stay away, no matter what potions he took. It was his reason for becoming a healer, he had wanted to know if he could get rid of all that which still haunted him. He had realised he was going to have to live with it. And somehow, he managed.

…

When he woke early next morning, sweat rolling off his forehead, he could hear someone wearing high-heels, walking into the apartment with steady steps. He reached for his wand and quickly rose from the couch but let down his arms when he saw that it was his former girlfriend.

"You're a swine Draco Malfoy," she declared as she picked up a lamp from the corner of the room, Draco didn't reply because he knew that he had been just what she claimed him for. A swine. She shot him a look, turned around and slammed the door after her. He fell down onto the couch again and sighed deeply, he could just wish about getting more sleep at the moment so he stood up, quickly undressed himself, went to lock the apartment door with his wand and then danced into the shower. The mirror showed him a torn and tired version of himself and the black mark on his arm stood out even more, just like it usually did in the morning, he looked away, wanting to smash the mirror like always and put the water in the shower on. Maybe he could wash away how dirty he felt.


	6. Chapter 6

I got a review, but I cant seem to find it now. I'd like to thank the person anyway, I will think more about writing dialogue in a better way in the future!  
Also, my beta reader is awesome, I can't thank her enough.(I really can't. I had forgotten the first section of text and she saved me hehe.)

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When Draco arrived at work the same morning he started out as usual by checking the papers that were waiting on his desk. First off he would meet with Miss Granger again so that she could leave if she was feeling much better and then he would meet with Clark, the patient who had induced an insanity potion, again. As he left his office, once-again clad in lime-green robes, he was greeted by intern nurse Jones who smiled flirtatious at him. He ignored her and went to the resident department to collect his first patient for the day.

…

She was sitting with Clark, who seemed to have been adjusting really well to not taking his antidote every six hours as he usually did, considering that it had now been twenty-four hours since his last potion. He seemed to be making the brown-haired woman laugh. Draco noticed that her untamed hair was strategically placed in a messy bun atop her head, making her look quite comfortable despite being on a hospital wing. He opened the locked door that he was standing on the other side of and walked in.

"Miss Granger," he said when he was close enough for her to hear. She took her eyes off the man she had been in a conversation with and glared at Draco. So he guessed she hadn't magically started liking her during the night spent at St Mungo's. "I'll be examining you now so that you can leave if you're feeling any better."

"Yes, that'd be very good, considering I have things that need attending," she said as she rose from her chair across the table from Clark. She bid the resident farewell and followed her healer out from the room.

"Be sure to come visit!" Clark told her as Healer Malfoy closed the door between them.

...

"So you're sure there's no pain at all in your stomach?" Draco demanded to know as he held his wand over the right side of her belly.

"Like I've said a thousand times: no, I'm feeling fine. If it gets worse I can just smear some balm on," she said coldly.

"Well if you aren't feeling anything then I might have to send you to a laboratory because I think that there might be something wrong with your right ovary."

"Why would you think that?" she asked and peered down at her bare stomach. He peered at her eyes and pointed at the blue light coming from the spell.

"Because of this," he said and showed her an abnormal fist sized kind of tumour that seemed very out of place. "It was there yesterday as well but I hoped that it would've disappeared."

"Maybe you're just a poor healer."

Draco decided to ignore her words and turned to her file again to scribble down some notes.

"I'm sending you to ground level, the laboratory is there. After that you can leave and you'll be summoned to meet me again in two weeks, does that sound okay?"

"Yes, Malfoy," she sighed and rose from the bed, before starting to dress herself and preparing to leave. "Thank you, Healer."

"You're welcome Granger," he responded and opened the door for her.

He left the room at the same time and was completely expecting her to stop by his receptionist and demand another healer once again, so that she'd not have to meet with him next time around. She didn't though, she went straight into the elevator and did not look back.

...

Clark greeted Draco when he entered his room after lunch and Draco quickly noticed how much better the man seemed to be feeling. He felt proud that something he had administered had actually made someone heal.

"I can see your doing better," Draco stated.

"Yes, very much so. I can never thank you enough if this truly completes my treatment. I'm running out of fingers to count the years I've been in this place," Clark told him.

"I'm very glad it's helping you," Draco said and started makings notes in Clark's file, reading his body language and his conditions to analyse if there were any symptoms he needed to write down.

"That woman who stayed the night was very kind, she didn't seem to be very fond of you though," Clark said in a questioning voice, as he noticed that Draco thought they needn't waste time if everything was good at the time. Draco met Clarks gaze and smiled softly.

"I understand her opinions, we've crossed before."

"How come she seems so resistant to you healing her? I mean she was very upset last evening and could not understand how any of the patients would ever not appreciate help from you?"

"Oh, well that's some gossip I guess you can talk about in the department, Mr Rabidus," Draco told him and their conversation was over.

With a polite smile Draco showed him the door and they left for the resident section again. It had taken him and the others healers forever to make him a healer that the residents would trust. Some still had problem and he did not appreciate Hermione carelessly destroying any relations he had built with his patients. Did she really hate him _that_ much?

...

Draco sat in his office after hours and filled in the patient files with information that he had been unable to find time to complete during the day. Some keywords to carelessly written he had a hard time deciphering and his thoughts drifted away. He had enjoyed lunch with Mrs Parker who for once actually was both quiet and polite. They had discussed work and she had told him how happy she was that his father hadn't barged in during patient-hours the other day when he went by. Draco considered the notion of her actually having inappropriate thoughts about his father and he had wanted to puke up the food he'd managed to eat.

Now though, he was going through a medical book about ovaries while he was reading through Hermione's file that the laboratory had sent up again after her tests. He knew that most spells would work to help but some things the muggles actually had better information on. He wouldn't admit that to his father though, or maybe he would... Draco snickered at the thought of his father shaking his head in disapproval. And so his thoughts ventured off onto things other than work. Soon he was considering what sort of tables he would buy now that Astoria had stolen the ones he had had.


	7. Chapter 7

During the two weeks that had passed since his last meeting with Miss Granger, Draco had managed to buy not only two, but three new tables for his apartment in the finer parts of Diagon Alley, one of them had been carved in dragon stone that his mother had _adored_ because of the traditional value it had. Then his mother had taken him on a shopping spree to get more decorations for his home, and oils that this invaluable table needed to be oiled in. He had thrown away the oils as quickly as he got home and put the decorations on the mantle of the fireplace so that his mother would be satisfied when she came to visit.

A knock on his door woke him from his thoughts, like all other mornings since the nurse had noticed that Healer Malfoy had thrown away the photo of him and his former girlfriend, she came into his office with tea. This morning it wasn't the nurse though.

"Miss Granger," he said, surprised that she would walk through his door this early.

"Yes, I was hoping it wouldn't do anything if I came a few minutes early, I have an important meeting later," she said questioningly, with a fake kindness.

"Hmm, I suppose not, there's not much on my schedule today," he admitted as he went through his files to find her folder, he peered at her where she was standing confidently just on the inside of the door and frowned, was she waiting for an invitation to sit? "Please," he called, turning back to the files in front of him, "do sit down."

"Do you have my results back?" she asked as she sat down and stroked her skirt neatly so that it wouldn't slide up and reveal more of her thighs.

"Yes and they all look very promising except for that one with your ovary. I'm afraid you have a cyst that won't budge, it's the kind that doesn't go away by itself," Hermione looked at him with concern, but clearly a bit embarrassed to be discussing her female parts with this specific healer.

"So, I was going to ask you if you have time for an operation any time soon, there is a opening on Thursday and you could probably leave the day after if everything goes well," he told her and she looked a bit less uncomfortable.

"I can schedule that, it would be good to remove it as soon as possible I suppose," she replied a bit concerned about the fact that she had something unnatural growing inside her but she seemed relieved that she would get help to cure her from it. "Who'll be performing the surgery?"

"That would be I, Miss Granger."

"Are you sure you're capable of that?" she muttered and he met her gaze.

"I'm a certified healer. It will be just fine, Miss…" She stopped him.

"Oh for Merlin's sake Malfoy, you've known me for half our lives, you're going to pull something out of my body, call me Hermione."

"Alright then, _Hermione_ , please wait here while I grab a nurse who will help you prepare for Thursday."

...

After lunch passed and the daily meeting with Clark had happened and subsequently gone well, Draco sat down in his office for some weekly planning. He was going to release Clark for a few days with a tracking spell attached to him since he had done well for 72 hours without a potion antidote. The paper filing was annoying but as he got to his new-found patient, that he would perform surgery on later that week, he suddenly felt that it wasn't quite as annoying. It was something new for him and something about it made him realise just how much he loved his job as a healer. He dipped his feathered quill in some ink and scribbled down the notes that Nurse Jones had acquired for him regarding Miss Hermione Granger, everything he needed to know was there and yet there was something he couldn't put his finger on that he thought was missing from her file and yet it all seemed to be fine. He decided he was just tired after the lunch and closed the journal with a heavy sigh.

"Mr Malfoy, your father left this," Mrs Parker told him as she stopped him halfway through the corridor and handed him an envelope.

"Oh? He didn't disturb me today," Draco eyed the envelope mistrustfully. It was strange that his father hadn't come into his office like usual.

"No, I was very clear about it not being okay anymore," the receptionist claimed and huffed into the air. She had been able to stop Lucius Malfoy when he wanted to meet with his son, truly that was an accomplishment of a difficult grade.

"Thank you, Mrs Parker." She nodded and continued walking down the hall. He continued back to his office and hung his healer's robe on the hook on the wall, he then examined the envelope and opened it a bit more carelessly than usual.

 _Draco,_

 _We'll have our weekly dinner tomorrow at seven. The usual place in Diagon Alley, do not be late._

 _Lucius A. Malfoy._

Draco supposed that he was in a hurry since he hadn't disturbed him or had talked Mrs Parker into letting him in to see his son. He wondered what had kept him so busy, probably nothing too serious – he hoped. Draco took his trench coat and put it on, left the letter on his desk next to his folders and left for Pansy's.

...

Just a couple of minutes later he was knocking on his best friend's door, which politely told him that the girl was on her way. A minute later she opened the door.

"Oh, Draco! I didn't even hear you apparate here."

"I decided to stroll from the lake. I needed the calm," he admitted and she gave him a concerned look.

"Well, would you like some food?" she asked and let him walk past her into the small villa she'd gotten as a present when she'd turned to the age of twenty.

"Absolutely, thought you'd never ask," he said with a wide grin as he hung his trench coat off a hanger. A house elf was holding open a coat closet for him but he would rather die than let a disgusting elf touch his clothing. He hated those creatures, with their enormous eyes and bat ears they were nothing but despicable, so he hung it in there himself.

"So, Friday morning, can you leave by then?" Pansy asked as she strolled into the kitchen, with Draco following. He could smell that she was baking something, he hoped it was apple pie.

"No, I have this surgery on Thursday, but after lunch on Friday would suit."

"Oh, surgery, that doesn't happen very often, how interesting!" Pansy exclaimed dramatically.

"No not really, just an ovary thing that can't be handled with magic without making the patient sterile."

"Oh, well that would've been good a couple of years ago, regarding some types of patients at least," she stated.

"My patient is Potter's friend from school, the one with bushy hair."

Pansy stopped in her step and blinked at Draco, as if she tried to tell whether or not he was joking, which she noticed he was not.

"Ew, really? Isn't she a mudblood?" she asked and continued with the food she was preparing. Draco had the urge to protect Hermione from the nasty words. She was, after all, his patient and he liked nursing and caring for his patients.

"Well I guess you'll have to keep you opinions to yourself Pansy, it's not really socially accepted to have them anymore," Draco replied with a snicker.

"That's why I like this man in Italy, you know that in Italy they're much more conservative than here," she told him.

"Well that's because all the wizards and witches in Italy moved there. There were no magical folk at all in Italy in early 19th century", Draco explained.

"What really? Did you seriously listen to Binns lessons about history of magic?"

"Yeah," seeing her incredulous look he continued, "well _some_ have to work for a living, seeing I'm not a girl and all."

"Oh shut up Drakie, I'm an excellent cook and my father thinks so as well," Pansy said with a pout.

"That's because Mr Parkinson want you to marry a respectable pure-blooded Italian," he teased her.

"Shut up."

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A/N I wont be posting on Sundays, because no post on sundays hehe. This is just for your information. :)  
Thanks for reading and please review it means super much!


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N_ _Thanks for the reviews! I'm trying my best to write this in English and I probably wouldn't have learnt so much if it weren't for TheresMusicInMyEars, so much credit to her. :) Enjoy this chapter! (I've also changed the summary because I, myself didn't find it very appealing. Hope you don't mind!)_

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Draco arrived at work a tad late the next day, having Pansy feeding him apple pie and firewhiskey was never a good idea but he would never learn to do otherwise because it was fun. It had taken him half an hour in the shower that morning to get the smell of liquor from his body, not being able to wear cologne or likewise at the hospital made it even harder for him. When he did arrive though, Mrs Parker sent disapproving looks at him all the way to his office, Nurse Jones smiled flirtatious at him like usual and this day he actually replied with a smile just as coquettish. Maybe he still had some of that alcohol in his system. Merlin, why did he let Pansy do this to him?

He quickly redressed into his healer's robe and grabbed Clark's file before venturing into his patient's room. There Clark was, dressed in regular clothes, with a wide, truly happy smile on his face.

"Healer Malfoy!" Clark greeted him and Draco responded with a smile.

"So Clark, today's the day," he informed the patient. "How are you feeling?"

"Perfect, I feel like this day is full of opportunities," he divulged.

"And you have my address, and the nurses as well?" Draco asked him and watched as Clark nodded in response to several other questions.

"Perfect, I'm going to get you a potion and then you'll head out with Nurse Smith. She will show you your training apartment and several other things you might need," Draco told him before moving to leave the room.

"Mr Malfoy," the call stopped him at the door, "I can never thank you enough for giving me this chance. In my opinion you have made up for anything you ever made wrong." Draco turned to the man feeling almost at a loss of what to say.

"It's you I should thank," he settled on, flashing his patient a honest smile.

Draco Malfoy did not cry often, but he had been very touched by Clark's words, and he may have locked his office door to hide the many tears that may have run down his cheeks. Kind words could do so much for one's heavy mind. Draco had appreciated Clark since the day he met him, and he had been so sure that this wasn't the place for such a human being. He never thought that such appreciation would come his way, and he never thought he would have reacted like this. A knock on his door quickly made him wipe away tears on his cheek, he hurried over to his sink and turned the water on.

"Yes?" he asked as clearly as he could and then he splashed some water onto his face.

"Healer?" he heard one of his nurses ask.

"I'll be right out."

As he made his way down to the lobby he still thought about Clark, he was worried of course, he hoped that everything would turn for the better for the man's life and that he could be living outside St Mungo's with regular dosage of the antidote he needed. The elevator told him that he was on his requested floor and Draco stepped out onto the ground level before heading towards the fireplaces to floo home, so that he could shower and change into appropriate clothing before meeting his father for dinner.

When he arrived at his apartment he was surprised because who he found sitting in the couch wasn't someone he had seen in quite some time, and who he figured would be very upset with him.

"Daphne," he was able to say. Her knees were crossed and she wasn't looking too happy to see him. "What do you want?"

"I lost a bet to Pansy, seriously Draco, why would you dump my sister? It's not like you're seeing someone else."

"You're making no sense at all," he said, his forehead wrinkled in a questioningly gesture. He would probably never understand women.

"Well since I lost all those galleons I thought you could take me shopping," Daphne suggested out of the blue and Draco started laughing hysterically.

"No… No Daphne, it's not my fault you made a bet with Pansy."

"But she cheated, she asked your father for help."

"Well I doubt any of them truly liked mine and Astoria's relationship." Daphne nodded at his words.

"I didn't even like you two together," she admitted.

"Why don't you come with me and Pansy to Italy, then I get payback on Pansy for getting me drunk yesterday."

"Oh Merlin, really Draco?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, don't tell Astoria though. She might get mad at you."

"Yeah well she doesn't like you, she's just mad she couldn't dump you first."

"Really?" Draco asked. "I don't get women."

Five minutes early to the restaurant where he would meet his father, Draco stood outside in the cold spring evening, hands in his pockets and waited. As he peered around he noticed a newspaper stall with a magazine wearing the name "Witch Weekly". On the front page he could see his name written. ' _Draco Malfoy, most eligible bachelor in England'_. He snorted and caught the attention of two women walking past him who shot him venomous looks. So he guessed that either they hated him or wanted him. He sighed and was more than happy to see his father, cane in hand walking down the alley towards him.

"You're on time," his father said approvingly as he got there.

"Of course father," Draco responded and helped him walk up the stairs before entering the restaurant.

By the time they had been assorted their seats at the fancy place, where they were regulars, and gotten the menus Draco hadn't been able to ask his father why he was in such a hurry the day before.

"So, Mrs Parker delivered the letter," Draco started, "how come you didn't stay?" Lucius gave him a stern look, clearly it wasn't any of his business.

"It was our yearly top meeting regarding the Malfoy Industries. Greengrass didn't show up, that bastard, but I'm not concerned about him, he hasn't brought any special affairs to the industries. Nott and Avery Sr were able to double their interests since last year though," Lucius explained anyway. Draco nodded. Still a pureblooded industry, he supposed his father was happy with that, even though times had changed.

"I understand, so no time to flirt with Mrs Parker then. I might have to reconsider the thought that she doesn't truly hate when you barge into the department," Draco snickered.

"I don't barge Draco, I walk. There's a very important difference there," Lucius answered. Before Draco could reply, Lucius started talking again.

"I'm thinking about making some investments Draco, and after that I might run for Minister for Magic," Lucius told his son. Draco stared blankly at him for a few moments.

"You think you would succeed?" Draco asked him.

"I have some cards up my sleeves, still. But further on I might need your assistance with my campaign," Lucius assured him calmly. "Would you do that for me, Draco?"

"Of course, father," Draco responded, not truly certain that his father would be allowed to run for Minister for Magic, much less win the entire campaign.


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning when Draco arrived at work he had an itch about there still being something off about Hermione's file, but he still couldn't figure out what it could be. It was easier finding mistakes when there were actually any to be found, and there were no visible mistakes in the file. _Maybe something was missing_ , he considered. He examined the documents for a while, making sure that he would find any faults that had been made by himself or the incompetent nurses who worked at the department, or rather he searched for what wasn't being said. After a while he got frustrated with himself and stopped abruptly by throwing the folder angrily on the desk, which it hit with a hard thud.

Draco left his office in a bad mood and went to get his morning tea with a lot of cream only to notice that the cafeteria was out of cream. He almost slapped someone but decided to drink two cups of tea without anything in it instead.

"Everything okay?" Nurse Smith asked him as the dark-skinned girl sat down across from him with a very small cup of coffee which also looked very hot.

"We're just out of cream again," he complained.

She nodded and took a sip of her beverage. "Yeah I noticed. I just meant that you seem a bit out of sorts," she tried again, her tone questioning.

"Well I got this patient's file and something seems out of place. Wouldn't think you'd notice what's missing though, I mean if I'm not seeing it then why would you?" he snorted and got up from the cafeteria table. He dragged his hand through his newly-cut short blond hair and put the cup of tea into the sink before heading out into the corridor. He didn't like the nurses, they were annoying and flirted with him, and it was annoying.

"He's so arrogant," he could hear Nurse Smith saying and he wanted to go inside and tell her that he actually was better than her, but he managed to stay professional. He blamed his rudeness towards the nurse on being angry because of the file but soon forgot about the whole incident as he went into an old hag's residential room.

The hag in question had made a cauldron explode in her hut in the seventies and now had no idea of whom or what she was, or anything for that matter. She was completely clueless. The cauldron that had exploded though, contained a beautification potion that had transformed her into something not unlike a Veela but without the drooling effect it had on men. Mostly because she usually hung from the lamp in the ceiling and drooled. She made monkeys look intelligent, but Draco liked her, she didn't know who he was either so she didn't hold any prejudices towards him nor did she give him nasty looks.

"Lake!" she exclaimed as he closed and locked the door after him. Draco nodded at her and handed her a bottle, which she threw, and as she threw it the bottle vanished. Draco offered her a second bottle, this one she opened and drank. The same procedure happened again, he handed her a bottle which she threw and then another which she happily emptied. Every third month she changed her routine and started throwing the second bottle instead. Draco measured different features that needed tending to. Some things were harder, like measuring the nose, which, thanks to the beatification explosion, was no longer, crooked and full of warts, instead it was slender and petite. He noticed that the calming draught she had received was starting to take effect and by those means he began looking for anymore symptoms the woman might have started exhibiting. She had shown no new symptoms at all over the last thirty years. She should consider herself lucky. After the second wizarding war hags and other beasts like werewolves were considered beings rather than creatures and thus she had been moved to St Mungo's from an asylum where she had been kept hostage since the explosion had first occurred.

"Lake," she repeated and Draco nodded. He, nor anyone else had understood why that was the only word she cared to use whenever someone was close, and all the other times she stared out the window at London with a blank expression.

When lunch arrived Draco had an "Aha!" moment and suddenly knew what it was that was missing from Hermione's medical file. The incompetent intern nurse had forgotten to give her the potion she had to take before undergoing surgery. It had to be administered at least twenty-four hours before it actually were to take place.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" he exclaimed at his desk and closed the folder after writing that she would have taken the potion. He went to the potions room, acquired the potion that Miss Granger would need to take and walked back to his office to shed the lime green robe. Then, he quickly threw his trench coat on and headed for the elevators without returning any greetings or gestures anyone gave him. Definitely not the department nurses.

It didn't take him long to reach ground level and floo to the ministry. Once there, some people politely greeted him since they knew who he was and some just gave him dirty looks. He didn't care about either as he hurried his steps, he hoped Hermione would be at the _Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_ and had not yet left for lunch. As he walked into the department he saw it was nearly empty, except for the receptionist, a boy who looked like he was about to graduate from Hogwarts.

"Excuse me?" Draco tried, aiming to catch the boy's attention. He looked up at Draco with a crease between his eyebrows.

"Yes?" he sighed.

"Is Miss Hermione Granger in?" Draco asked.

"No she left for lunch a couple of minutes ago, can I leave a note?" Draco considered just leaving a note and the potion but he didn't like office people, they were often sloppy, as his nurses had been. No, he wanted to deliver the potion to Hermione himself, and maybe for more reasons than wanting it to truly get through to her.

"Do you know where she's having her lunch?"

"That newly opened place in the alley, I can't remember the name but that's my guess," the boy answered.

"Thank you," Draco said and turned to leave. He walked the same corridors back to the main hall of the ministry and without so much as a gaze at anyone he stepped into a fireplace and floo'd away to Diagon Alley.

As he walked into the restaurant he was surprised at the amount of witches and wizards occupying the tables. He had seen it advertised and hadn't thought it would be as succesful as it seemed to be. His mother also hadn't liked the idea of this restaurant. It wasn't as classy as she wanted restaurants to be, he figured that she would probably be changing her opinion soon.

Draco gazed over the people who were enjoying their lunches and soon spotted a façade of brown in a corner, across her was none other than Ginny Weasley. _Well wouldn't this be fun_ , Draco thought as he started making his way over to the women, peacefully enjoying their lunch without any thought of old foes disturbing them. Ginny was the first one to notice him as he approached, Hermione, surely noticing her friend glaring at something, turned around on the chair and shot him an angry look.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" she asked and continued to glare at him. Ginny had politely started looking at her plate.

"I won't disturb you for long, I'm just going to correct a mistake that my nurse made," he promised her and dug the potion out of his pocket.

"Oh so that's…" Ginny started saying but stopped when Hermione started glaring at her just as venomously as she had done at Draco. He offered her the potion and she took it carefully.

"I thought you were an approved healer?" Hermione said.

"Like I said, my nurse made this mistake, not I. If you would please drink it now as well, the sooner the better," he explained.

"Seriously, _you_ are the hot healer she talked about?" Ginny suddenly let out. Draco arched an eyebrow questioningly at the statement. Hermione gasped at her friend before quickly unscrewing the cork of the potion and drinking it just as fast. Embarrassed, Hermione stared down at her lunch without so much as a look in Draco's direction.

"I assume I am, if she hasn't changed to any of the older healers," Draco assured the red head, though he was very much amused that Hermione had told her friend that.

"I haven't," Hermione whispered, just loud enough for it to be audible.

"Well, like I promised, I won't be staying," Draco told the pair of friends and was just about to leave when Ginny stopped him.

"Why don't you have lunch with us? I think Hermione would appreciate that a lot," Ginny said and threw him a wide smile.

"I'm not so sure about that Miss Weasley," he snickered.

"Actually, it's Mrs Potter now, but please do sit. I insist," Ginny told him with an even wider smile, and so he did. Draco was very sure that he had never heard Hermione talk as little as she did that lunch. Or rather not heard. She had always had a witty comeback but not this time around and it sure did amuse Draco.

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 _A/N I'd like to thank for the review, it does mean a lot. As always I owe my soul or something to TheresMusicInMyEars because they're a gift from above regarding this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please, do leave a review if anything concerns you or if you simply like the story. :)_


	10. Chapter 10

Thursday arrived and Hermione came in early so that the nurses could tend to her. With her was none other than Ginny Potter. Draco wasn't surprised really and he'd rather see her than the other Potter, or the youngest Weasley brother. Draco hadn't met them yet but Intern-Nurse Jones had been so kind to tell him about their arrival. Supposedly the other nurse, Smith, had told Miss Granger that due to the way an operation could make one feel afterwards, prompting dizziness and so on, she could bring a friend to help keep her safe.

Smith had been giving Draco dirty looks all week. He assumed that Hermione Granger had told the nurse about her distrust of the healer with white hair, or some other fitting insult regarding Draco´s appearance. But he wasn't very sure after the lunch he had with Hermione and Ginny the day before, and he couldn't quite understand even that the event itself really had occurred.

"Stranger things have happened," Draco reminded himself as he rose from his office chair, and he didn't really consider lunch with Ginny and Hermione a strange thing at all. He left the room with folder in hand and lunch in his stomach. He had to prepare for the magical surgery he was going to perform in just an hour, something he would be doing on his own for the very first time, with only the assistance of another healer monitoring the process.

Draco Malfoy didn't get nervous often, he had too big of an ego for that to happen, but on occasion it could occur, and this was one of those times. He hadn't seen Hermione since the day before and she was now in a deep sleep induced by the Draught of Living Death. Just as he was about to enter the surgery room, the fiery-haired girl stopped him.

"Don't make any mistakes Malfoy or I'll come after you," she promised him but then she smiled. "I heard it was your first time. Good luck!"

Draco didn't really have the time to process what had happen before Healer Addams joined him. She was a woman of sixty-five and still looked like she was in her prime days. She was stern, righteous and always awfully quiet. They went into the room together and as if she asked him about it, he held the Wiggenweld potion up to show her that he knew that it was needed. He handed it to her so that she could put it down on the table, it was just a safety check, if they were in an emergency situation they would need to wake the patient.

And thus they began. It wasn't really a hard procedure he was performing, it was just the knowledge that he hadn't really done it before that concerned him. When he started operating though, all his worries washed away and he found he was able to show that he was very skilled at what he was doing. Passion did that to people.

"Can you hand me a plate Addams?" Draco requested and soon a plate stood on the table next to where he was operating. He cut open where he needed to and stopped the bleeding with a handy healing spell. Now came the hard part, how to remove the cyst without damaging his patient. Slowly but steadily, the operation went by. It was of course time consuming but if it hadn't been it might have maimed or seriously injured Hermione.

Three hours later, Draco walked into room number four where Hermione lay, still sleeping deeply with her friend on her right side, across the bed from where Draco sat down. He uncorked a potion bottle containing the Wiggenweld cure that he was about to give Hermione.

"How did you know it was my first time?" Draco asked the redhead across the bed to him.

"I heard the nurses gossip about it," Ginny explained.

Draco rolled his eyes, how did they even know about it? Smith had been there since Draco started but the intern did not need to know such information. Damn it.

"Just don't tell Herm… Miss Granger, it would probably make her worried," Draco requested. Ginny nodded and watched him as he put a small amount of the potion on his finger and smeared it onto Hermione's lips.

"Are you sure you shouldn't put it on your lips?" Ginny teased him and he glanced at her.

"I'm no prince charming, Mrs Potter," he told her with a sad smile which she didn't quite read. Seconds later they both looked down at Hermione who had let out a grunt. Slowly she was opening her eyes, which were fixed on her assigned healer.

"Draco," she said, her voice so unclear that she must've still been a bit drugged, "is everything okay?"

"Yes, you're very much fine, we'll talk more when your mind isn't so clouded," Draco told her, surprised that she had used his first name, but he liked it coming from her lips. Even though he was uncertain he'd hear it from her in a more stable condition. Which saddened him.

"Okay, thank you Draco," Hermione said, still with that drugged tone that confirmed that she was still being affected by the Draught of Living Death.

"I'll leave you two," he said, made a few final notes in his file and left the room. He didn't know if Hermione would want Ginny to know to personal information about her, she certainly wouldn't want Draco to know them in any other situation. Due to this Draco found it best that he would tell Hermione about her surgery when she were more awake and alone with him.

While Draco waited for time to pass so that he could tell Hermione about her new state he started to write the recommendation paper for the intern that the department had had. She most certainly could be more competent than Nurse Smith at times, but he wrote that maybe it wasn't the right department for her, with the note that she didn't seem quite interested in the subject of potions poisoning and related afflictions but that she handled patients very well. Maybe he lied a little but he couldn't endure her yearning gaze. Sure he was flattered but it was his working place and he didn't have the time for girls who wouldn't understand that it wasn't a zoo where you could stare at people as you pleased.

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 _A/N Thanks for reading guys, I appreciate the reviews really much! Don't forget to leave another one if you like this chapter as well!  
Cheers!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Thanks for the reviews guys, you make me very happy! Leave a new one if you want to, it makes me even more happy. ^^  
_ _TheresMusicInMyEars - is my beta-reader and she saves my writing from being horrible._

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Much later, when the clock had stretched over his working hours, Draco was still in his office, aware that he needed to stay later than usual today. His thoughts had long since drifted away onto other things that concerned him and he was playing with two pencils.

"Draco," he heard someone say and turned to see that Astoria was standing by the door. She looked quite nervous and seemed to hesitate on walking inside or staying outside the office.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Well, I thought that maybe you weren't serious," she started by saying but he interrupted her.

"I was very much serious!"

"I noticed you bought new tables," she said after a moment.

"Oh for Merlin's sake Astoria, I told you to give Daphne the keys to the apartment so that she could give them to me! You can't just lurk around, you don't live there anymore," he said as he stood up from his chair, extremely irritated.

"I was just searching for some things I had forgotten," she used as a justification to what she had done.

"You have no things left there, I would have noticed," Draco told her. "Leave, now."

She flushed with embarrasment and fury before scowling. "You're such an idiot Draco," she spat.

"Yeah I've gotten used to hearing that."

After Astoria had disturbed him, irritation had followed Draco through the day and it was not until he decided to check on Hermione that the irritation finally left him. He walked through the marble-clad corridors like always with folder in hand and robes swaying behind him.

When he carefully opened the door to room number nine he found Hermione Granger lying under three white blankets with a book in her hands. When she noticed him she put a piece of paper between the pages she currently was on and then she looked searchingly on him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I feel strange, if anything," she answered, truthfully as well, Draco noticed, as this was a common side effect from magical surgery.

"Well I need to inform you about the outcome, if you are feeling well enough to know about it," he told her as he grabbed a chair to sit down on.

She frowned and lay the book on the table next to the hospital bed, "Now that you've told me that you definitely need to tell me the rest."

"Well I can see that you're clearly feeling good enough to hear this," he began. "Due to the cyst being so large there have been… complications."

"If this is your fault, your fault _at all_ , I will have you thrown into Azkaban Malfoy," she said angrily and he wanted nothing more than remind her that his name was Draco, and that she had said it earlier so why forget it now.

"If you believe that it was my fault in any way I can arrange you to meet the other healer that was monitoring the process," he assured her with a smile.

"What are the complications?" she asked a bit more humbly and Draco took a deep breath to relax.

"Well, seeing as the cyst had grown so large because of the potion incident it has been causing major damage to your right ovary, so much so that you have become sterile there. But there is still a fifty per cent chance that you'll become pregnant. You only have to know which one month to try in," he enlightened her, she became very quiet but then tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm weird," she scowled and started wiping her cheeks rapidly even though it wasn't helping.

"No, you're not," he said and moved closer to her, took her hand and held it. She stopped sobbing and stared down at their hands before she clenched his hand hardly. _Don't let go_ , he thought.

"You used to think so," she said quietly.

"No Hermione, don't… don't go there, you're a witch and you're a damn good one," he told her as he glanced at their hands and he got the urge to kiss her hand but as much as he wanted to, he didn't.

"I guess your previous prejudices have disappeared from your mind after all," she suddenly said and retrieved her hand, leaving but a red mark that fast faded from Draco's hand.

"As I grew up I realized that those views made no sense, not at all."

"That was a good realisation to have," she said admiringly.

"Are you feeling better now?" He asked and met her gaze.

"A little, but it's a lot to take in."

"Of course, but you're brave, you'll handle it," he said and smiled at her. This was probably the longest they had ever looked at each other and he was just about to decipher the look in her chocolate brown eyes when she looked down.

"I'll leave you to it then and I'll come back to check on you in the morning," Draco said after some moments and stood up, preparing to leave. Just as he opened the door to exit the room he thought he heard a whisper coming from her.

"Did you say anything?" he asked as he turned around and stood in the doorway.

"Could you possibly stay for a while?" had been her request, even if she sounded unsure if that was really what she wanted.

"Of course, let me just go change. I'll be back soon."

Draco didn't quite understand why he did it but when he had changed from his working attire he unbuttoned the black shirt he wore underneath and rolled the sleeves up to look more casual. He hung his jacket on his arm before he locked his office for the night and started walking through the now dark corridors, he could hear the night nurses sitting in the cafeteria where the certainly were discussing something they found interesting. When he stepped into Hermione's temporary room she was once again reading, this time though, she finished her page before she put the book down. He noticed that she eyed him thoroughly but didn't mention it, instead he sat down on the chair next to her bed again.

"It's strange, right?" Hermione said and dragged the white blankets further up which made him wonder if she was cold.

"What do you mean?" Draco inquired.

"That you're sitting here, I'm lying here. That we're not throwing insults."

 _Well, I'm not insulting you, you're insulting me_ , Draco wanted to say.

"It's the most polite way to do it," he answered instead. She laughed.

"That's why it's so strange, I don't even know who you are, 'polite'? It's like you're an entirely different species or something."

"Another species, yeah I'm a Martian," Draco jokingly admitted.

An exhausting day had made Draco fall asleep on the chair, bending forwards so that his face were resting on the hospital bed and his jacket lay on his lap as an impromptu blanket. When he woke and looked down at his watch he realized that it was late night, three o'clock to be more exact. His right hand was tangled with Hermione's and he removed it carefully so that he could leave for home. He couldn't resist the temptation so he placed a kiss on her hand before putting it down.

As he gazed at her face he noticed how blissful she looked, brown locks scattered around her head and her lashes resting against her nightly pale cheeks. As he left the dark, quiet hospital that night something struck him. For seven years, Draco Malfoy had been having nightmares. Upon waking up hand in hand with Hermione Granger however, Draco realised that for the first time since the war began, no dreams had bothered him.


	12. Chapter 12

Draco awoke again a couple of hours later on his couch where had had fallen asleep as soon as he had gotten home. Sweat had made his shirt wet and it stickily stuck to his body. He hardly had the energy to get off the couch so instead, when he tried, he fell down onto the floor and lay there for a couple of moments before tiredly sitting up.

He looked from the stone table, to the decorations on the fire-mantle, to the expensive paintings on his wall. He would've thrown it all away if it meant the nightmares would end. Merlin, he'd do anything for them to end. The strange thing though, was that they had, for the first time in seven years, and his remedy? Hermione Granger. When he pushed himself off the floor every bit of his body ached and he hated himself for sleeping on the coach _so much_ at that moment. As he walked through the apartment, heading for the shower, he noticed a note on his table, one that he somehow had managed to miss when he arrived during the night.

 _Draco_

 _Pansy told me you were going to Italy tomorrow so I came over and helped you pack some things you might need. I thought that you'd be too busy with work to have the time yourself. I waited until mid-night before I left so that your father wouldn't be worried about me, but I'm worried about you, it's not like you to be that late. Please come by before you leave for Italy so that I know you're okay._

 _Love,_

 _Your mother._

Since this morning was especially bad, all Draco wanted to do was to apparate there, to Malfoy Manor, current condition and all. Shout at both his parents _that of-fucking-course he wasn't okay_ and that it was their fault for making his life a miserable mess by joining a maniac in a crusade as mad as the man himself. He knew that they regretted it more than anything though. His mother more than father considering she had only followed him into it because she loved him, supported him. He muttered something foul under his breath and left the note on the table.

As he headed towards his shower he saw that, true to her words, his mother had packed his things as there was now a black suitcase resting on his bed. His bed was made with new linens and he just couldn't be mad at his parents anymore. At least not his mother since she did these trivial things for him; she left dinner occasionally, made his bed, existed. She was a saint to him.

Later, clad in his Healer robes, Draco walked the corridors of St Mungo's third floor. At first he hadn't truly liked those corridors, he felt as if he had replaced the Hogwarts corridors for the wizard hospital, but he had adjusted. Now, he actually felt like he belonged.

"Mr Malfoy, can I have a second?" He had stopped just outside the room where Hermione was staying and turned around at the sound of a voice.

"Yes, Jones?"

"Well, I saw your report and I – I'm offended because I really, really, really like this subject. Potions poisoning is really interesting," the girl said.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen this interest you speak of."

"How could you not?"

 _How am I supposed to answer that?_ he thought. "I know that Mrs Parker is interested in potions poisoning because I've heard her answer distressed calls from patients, she knows everything about the subject-"

"What does that have to do with it?"

"It isn't just about knowing everything, it's about caring for your patients first of all and I wouldn't say you suit for it." Draco almost regretted what he had said when a crease built up between her brows and a tear ran quickly down her cheek. _It was the truth,_ he told himself.

"I just want to be good at something," she sobbed.

"Perhaps you should talk to a councillor about something that fits with who you are."

She nodded silently but started talking again,"I don't think that's why you don't want me working here."

"Oh?" Draco wanted to turn around and jump out a window but hesitated, perhaps she would say something logical.

"You want to date me."

 _No, no, no I really don't want to_ , his mind screamed. What was wrong with all the women around him?

"You're wrong." Draco said. His eyes were fixed on intern nurse Jones and she looked down at the floor.

"Well if you would want to, floo me anytime," she winked, spun around and walked away. Draco blinked a few times, _what the hell?_ He entered the room which he stood outside of and closed the door behind him. He put his palm across his face and sighed heavily before he looked at his patient that were laying beneath three white blankets. She looked very amused.

"Oh you think that's funny?" he asked and gave her a grin.

"Trouble in paradise? I've seen her, she's very beautiful," Hermione answered.

"Beauty isn't all looks to be truthful."

"Well of course not, but…"

"How are you feeling today?" he requested to know so that they would change the subject.

"Much, much better. I think that thing affected me more than I realised. I slept really well too."

 _So did I, as long as I was sleeping next to you,_ he thought.

"Are you usually having nightmares?" he said instead.

"Not that often, I just don't sleep through the night very often."

"Have you tried calming draughts? It could help."

"I have, they don't work for me. Not long enough for me to have a soothing sleep anyway." Hermione said and pulled the blankets off of her body. She was already dressed and must have just been waiting for her Healer to show up.

"Same here," Draco said and immediately regretted it.

"You have nightmares?" she asked and shot him a questioning look. _Damn_ , why had he said that?

"Well then, since you're feeling so well I'll send you home. You'll receive an owl in about a month for a check-up," he said, instead of answering her question. He looked down and opened her file to write down that she had been sent home and the date that she was to see a Healer again. He could feel her eyes searching for his so he decided to stand up, prepared to leave.

"That's all," he said and opened the door.

"Thank you Malfoy."

"You're welcome, now take care Hermione," he said to remind her that she'd called him by first name but when he looked at her she seemed curious, as if she didn't know what to make of him.

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 _A/N don't forget to leave a review if you've enjoyed what I've written, and to tell me what you think! This one was so fun to write tbh. :) Hope you have a lovely weekend!_


	13. Chapter 13

The day passed quickly, as usual, but Draco hadn't wanted it to go by as fast as it had this time. Maybe he should have talked more to Hermione instead of ruining their conversation by changing the subject, not even once. He fell backwards on the bed. He'd actually been pacing the length of his bedroom for almost twenty minutes at that point. He had nothing to do while he waited for Pansy to arrive and he was out of his mind with boredom. He stared at the ceiling for a whole five minutes before sighing. _He was really bored._

"Please, let's forget the past," he sung to himself and moved over to his side. It didn't take long before he was fully asleep. Sleep to Draco meant nightmares, screams and not being woken when it happened. But he was glad someone did actually wake him up this time considering he had dreamt of torturing the same girl who had, even if it was only the one time, managed to stopped the nightmares. He hadn't felt that blissful in ages.

"Draco," a voice exclaimed far away and he realised again that someone actually was trying to awaken him. He turned over to lie on his stomach, groaned and felt someone's hands slide off his shoulders. He opened his eyes and turned back over and looked up at Pansy´s face.

"You are so going to have to explain that," she said and he groaned again.

"Explain what?" he asked.

"Oh don't act like you're an inferi, you know exactly what I mean."

"No I don't?" he lied and wiped sweat off his forehead. _Why was she here and why did she have to care?_

"Fine, but I won't be paying your health insurance when you're being tied to a hospital bed."

"Did we miss our depart apparition?" he asked as he sat up on his bed, not noticing that Pansy was still keeping both her eyes on him, trying to read him.

"No it's in an hour but knowing you I figured I would help you pack."

"Why do both my mother and you think that I'm fifteen?"

"So your mother packed your bag?"

"No my father came by my work and asked what kind of underwear I wanted for my trip," he said sarcastically.

"You think you're so funny Draco," she said, slapped his shoulder and walked out of the room by saying, "you should take a shower, you're covered in sweat."

Draco noticed that he actually was drenched in sweat and he muttered before he got out of his bed. Once up, he cast a spell on his bed to tidy it and clean it, then he went into his shower. He didn't like cleaning up with a spell, he only felt truly clean and fresh after a cold shower. When he got out again he saw that Pansy had laid down some clothes for him on his bed. He dressed himself with the trousers and just some seconds later she arrived to finish the outfit with a black shirt. The entire outfit was black, his designer clothes.

"Am I really that depressing?" he asked.

"We're not going to see some farmer boy, you can't wear whatever you like Draco."

"Oh for Merlin's sake, I hope you haven't repacked my clothes, my mother had packed them perfectly."

"There weren't enough trousers," Pansy inclined and Draco rolled his eyes, they were only going to be away for _two_ days.

"Shall we get going?" he asked as he finished dressing himself. Pansy nodded and went out of his room to wait for him to disapparate together.

When they arrived in Italy, Draco unbuttoned the first buttons on his shirt right away, it was way too hot there. He would've changed into a t-shirt if it weren't for Pansy or the fact that he had an abomination tattooed onto his arm. A few seconds after he had undone the buttons Pansy noticed it and quickly buttoned them again.

"Behave," she warned him and held a finger up to hush him. She cast a wandless spell on him so that he wouldn't sweat in the 'poor shirt' or worse sweat at all.

"Where are we going?" Draco asked when they started walking in a direction along a beach. The view was stunning with the sun almost on its way to set and birds that sang about the day.

"All the way out there," she said and pointed towards the end of beach where a dock was located. He didn't see it until they got closer but when he finally did it was inevitable to do so.

"He lives in a big bloody castle?" Draco exclaimed, surprised.

"That's not the only thing that's big."

"Oh for Merlin's sake, I did not need to know that."

Pansy snickered and took a hold of his arm so that they walked together. Italy was warm even though Pansy had cast a spell on them to keep them cooled. When they finally arrived by the dock it wasn't until Pansy cast a spell that revealed a boat that Draco understood how they would get out onto the island where the castle was located.

"So I'm guessing this guy is pretty rich then," he said with an impressed look on his face, and Draco wasn't one who was easily impressed.

"He's the richest guy in Italy."

"Can't wait to meet him," Draco said and started to imagine an old bearded man in jewels, gems and expensive robes that creepily held Pansy's hand. His imagination took him further on and he made a gagging sound at the pictures his mind painted. Luckily for him it didn't take long before the boat had taken them across the beautiful blue water and they were climbing up the dock at the island. It looked even bigger when they were closer, Draco noticed as he helped Pansy out of the boat.

"Wait a moment," she said and stood still whilst rummaging through her purse after something. She caught the item she looked for and put on a pair of expensive looking sunglasses. Draco watched her and gave her a curious look when she looked up at him whilst putting the shades on.

"He gave them to me the last time we were here," she explained and smiled at Draco. Again, they hooked arms and started walking. Moments later, as they walked through a white gate a loud sound almost made them fall down onto the ground, it pierced their ears and it didn't take long until Draco realized why. Pansy seemed to have understood as well because she gripped his hand tightly to comfort him.

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 _A/N don't forget to leave a review if you enjoy the story. :) And of course, many thanks to TheresMusicInMyEars who betareads every chapter! I would've probably given up if it weren't for that. Cheers to her!_

/ Trezzan


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N Sorry for the late update today! I have so much things to do that I barely have the time to do anything, but I try! Thanks for the reviews and the follows/favourites! Don't forget to leave another review if you like it! (TheresMusicInMyEars helps me betaread the chapters and I couldn't thank her more considering I'm not native in English.)_

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A man came walking down the stairs to where they were standing; petrified by the sound that was reducing the closer the man came. Draco noticed that the man wasn't in fact a man but a boy and that he couldn't have been older than seventeen. He wore a white suit with pearl embroidery on the edges and a red shirt underneath. His black hair was carefully combed backwards in a fifties hairdo and a pair of pilot shades rested on his face. On his feet he wore dress shoes made of dragon scale. If it weren't for the fact that it looked very out of place on him he might have looked older.

"Alejandro!" Pansy squealed and quickened her pace to meet him. She walked in a very womanly manner, shaking the right parts of her body before she met him with an embrace that positioned him in his favour, thanks to Pansy.

"So glad to meet you again, love," he answered and kissed her cheek. He let go of her and let her hold his arm as he walked over to Draco, who still was petrified on the spot.

"Sorry about that," Alejandro muttered and raised his wand. The wards who held Draco captured let go and his shoulders tensed as if to protect himself.

"What was that?" Draco asked.

"Wards against death eaters, very handy a few years ago but not needed any longer," he responded. "Haven't thought about removing it of course, considering I don't have many guests wearing the black mark."

"I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy," he said and brought his right hand forward instead of throwing a nasty comment about the wards. _I'm doing this for Pansy,_ he told himself quietly.

"Alejandro Ludovico, pleasure to meet you," he said as he stretched out his own hand and shook Draco's. Alejandro managed to give him a wide, white, perfect smile and Draco couldn't help but wonder if he had used some sort of spell to make those teeth so perfect. Something that made him think about Hermione.

"I thought there were three of you coming to visit?" Alejandro asked as they walked up the marble stairs to the castle.

"Daphne is coming tomorrow, she had some things to finish up at home," Pansy explained and shook her head so that her hair landed behind her shoulder.

"Like what?" Draco asked rudely.

"Some business at the department of mysteries, she wouldn't tell me exactly what."

"I hope it's nothing dangerous, wouldn't want her injured." Alejandro suddenly said.

 _Well you hardly know her so why do you care_ , Draco wanted to say but he just nodded and agreed because he knew better.

They had enjoyed a rigid dinner together, not for Pansy and Alejandro of course who had been giggling through it all but Draco longed for Daphne to get there so that he could actually endure this journey. Afterwards Alejandro had offered Draco a tour of the house and to start off the tour they ventured down a long stairwell to ground levels where he kept his dolphins. There were seven round pools that were barely connected, together they formed a half circle and the dolphins jumped joyfully from one to the other. Draco noticed that there were seven of them. The view, even though at the same level of the ocean, was stunning and they stood there for a couple of moments and enjoyed the scene of the sun setting. Draco was enjoying the moment as much as his friend and her _friend._ When they finally moved on they took a shortcut into the dungeons that were located behind a bush near the pools.

"If anyone wanted to secretly release a prisoner or throw them into the ocean during the medieval days they used this passage," he explained as he held the door open for the both of them. It wasn't a very large tunnel and Draco had to bend his head down several times not to hit the lanterns that hung from the ceiling.

"Well this looks like a cheerful place," Draco said as he looked around in the dungeon. He saw that there were chains hanging from the walls and bars that were rusty of age. It was very cold there compared to where they had been just moments ago.

"To be honest I'm not down here very often," Alejandro responded and flashed an uncertain grin, "but the tourists like to see it all."

"Tourists?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, Alejandro's employees have tours for the muggles who visit, they make quite a fortune thanks to it," Pansy explained as Alejandro put an arm around her. Draco wished that he had been around his best friend more so that he could tell her not to go for _this guy_. How could he have missed that Pansy went to Italy so often?

"I see," Draco said and smiled.

"Let's move on."

As they walked up the stairs to one of the towers Alejandro excused himself and left Draco and Pansy alone for the first time since they had arrived. Alejandro had gone to get them a few drinks that they would enjoy at the top of the tower. When Draco and Pansy hade walked up the many stairs they appreciated the view in quiet.

"Spit it out," Pansy suddenly told him.

"What? I don't…"

"Oh for Merlin's sake, you've been acting weird ever since you first lay eyes on Alejandro."

"I'm sorry, I just don't know how to act around children."

"Draco! That is so rude!"

"How old is he anyway? He looks like he's sixteen!" Draco said and leaned onto the stone railing.

"Yes he is, so what? He's kind and good looking!"

"Oh don't act like you care, you just want him because he's rich," he said and Pansy gasped at his words.

"I am so offended Draco, it's just the fact that he doesn't give a shit about who I've been, just who I am now."

"The age difference is just," he paused, "Merlin Pansy, I wouldn't have thought you'd be this much like your mother."

"I am nothing like her! Don't you dare call me greedy Draco," Pansy squealed as her eyes started tearing.

"There is eight years between the two of you, it won't work! Can you not see that?" he said and rolled his eyes.

"Leave," she said quietly and closed her eyes. Draco didn't move. "I don't even want to look at you right now Draco, leave and don't you dare try to apologize."

"Fine, I wasn't planning on apologizing anyway! I don't approve Pansy!"

"I don't need your approval you git!" she said angrily as he started walking down the stairs, "Don't come back!"

Draco met Alejandro on his way down and excused himself politely. The boy had wondered why and he had explained that Pansy was thoroughly pissed at him and then he had darted past him with no further clarification. When he had gotten his hands on his suitcase in a room somewhere in the castle it didn't take long before he also had arrived down at the dock. He raised his wand to summon the boat and watched as it crept over the water towards him. When he sat down in the boat he felt all the tension he had in his body disappear, he let out a deep sigh and put his face in his palms.


	15. Chapter 15

It was easier than Draco had thought to get help with apparation from Italy to England that late in the evening. The bribery hadn't failed its duty either, thankfully. This Friday night London was clouded in drunken muggles and certainly among them witches and wizards as well. Draco decided he'd go and get a drink at a muggle pub instead of one in Diagon Alley, he didn't fancy running into someone he knew and he really didn't want to talk to anyone he used to know for hours while sharing drinks after drinks. Words easily slipped without thinking when that happened, and if he went to a muggles bar he might find someone to have fun with. He decided to keep his expensive clothing on instead of changing into jeans and a shirt. Something about the way he dressed seemed to attract looks from women he met when he walked down the streets in London. He felt confident, even though it was a faked one, and it gave him satisfaction.

"Malfoy?" he heard a female voice giggle as he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Is that really you?"

 _Nowhere to run_ , he thought. How someone he knew had found him here only Merlin knew, but when he turned around he didn't mind at all. But what were the odds? _Certainly in his favour_ , he thought.

"Granger, nice to see you outside of St Mungo's," he said and smirked at her. He noticed she was wearing a blue skirt that was longer than the other women's and a matching blue shirt, _probably cotton_ he noted to himself.

"Same, I suppose. Can I sit?" she asked and sipped the glass she was holding. When Draco gestured towards the empty seat next to him she quickly managed to sit down on it.

 _Eager?_

"Are you out drinking on your own?" he asked and she nodded.

"I was only going to eat and then head home."

"And suddenly you're sitting here with a drink, did something go wrong?" he said and snickered.

"I just realised that I didn't have to sit at home with my cat all evening and I feel really good after yesterday," she said and gave him a smile. Draco observed that she wasn't wearing any make up but then again she didn't need to, she was a natural beauty.

"So, what Ginny said some days ago, am I really that hot or was she joking?" he asked and grinned at her. Hermione looked down and he watched as her cheeks turned red before she looked up at him rather sneakily. She looked adorable.

"Well it's the truth and it's rude to lie," she answered simply.

"So you do think that."

"Yes, Malfoy, I think you're hot."

"Most women just say that because they know I got my pockets full."

"Well I'm not most women now, am I?" she said and crossed her arms in an attempt to be playful. He laughed at her and she rolled her eyes. She seemed to be a bit too drunk. He hoped she wasn't.

"Of course not, _Hermione_ ," he whispered teasingly and then he removed all his attention on her and asked the bartender for another drink. The man nodded and poured him another glass of that expensive whiskey he had had five glasses of already. Maybe it was wrong of him to assume Hermione was drunk.

"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked when he turned back to focus on her again, glass of whiskey in his hand.

"My best friend is pissed at me so she banished me from Italy. Surely cursed the whole of Italy so that I could never return," he said and sipped the beverage he was holding.

"Really, that bad?" She wondered. "You're in a muggle bar you know, never thought I'd find you in a place like this."

"Yeah, well times change."

"What happened then?"

"It's so silly and entirely my fault actually." _Why did I admit that?_

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said and sipped her drink that had managed to fill up again.

"I told my best friend that I don't approve her choice of boyfriend."

"Oh, I'd give you a tip, but it's a bit too late for that."

"No, go ahead. Maybe I'll learn something."

"Well, unless you can see that she is being abused or sad I don't think you should care at all in her choice of boyfriend," Hermione explained and leaned onto the bar so that she got closer to Draco. Not because she seemed to want to but because she was starting to defy gravity by drinking so much.

"You have a point," Draco admitted as he watched her every move. Should he help her home or something so that she doesn't die or get pulled into an alley with some creepy muggle?

"Who is your best friend by the way? I always thought it was those two…"

"Those mongrels? No," Draco interrupted and laughed, "Pansy is my best friend."

"Really? I always thought…"

"You seem to jump to exclusions easily, Granger."

"Nooo _Draco_ , I just – I just called you Draco."

"It's happened before, don't worry. But to answer what you've always thought, no, Pansy and I never dated." He said and smirked at her, she closed her eyes for a few seconds and then looked up at him, brown eyes, like coffee in the darkness.

"I haven't called you Draco before," she denied and a crease appeared between her eyebrows. He snickered.

"No that you remember, no."

He watched her as she lay down her head onto the bar and peaked up at him. She looked a bit out of place.

"Do you want help home?" he asked after a momentarily consideration.

"Why would I need help home?" she wondered.

"I'm only asking because I'm leaving and I just wanted to know you were safe."

Hermione laughed mockingly.

"You wanted to know that I was safe? I hardly believe that."

"Fine, I'll see you around Granger." he said and stood up. She attempted to do the same and since he had read the situation right, she fell straight into his arms.

"I might need help home," she said and looked up at him with those _beautiful_ eyes.

"Let's go then." He said and smiled at her.

* * *

 _Updates; Monday, Wednesday and Friday/Saturday from now on. Hope you like it! Leave a review if you do. :)_


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N Thanks for the your reviews, they make sooo happy! :)_

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Helping Hermione home wasn't an easy task, Draco quickly learned. It wasn't that she didn't know where she lived or some other bullshit. She just couldn't stand up straight and it sure didn't help that she clung onto Draco every few steps and begged him to carry her. He didn't know whether he should snicker or actually carry her. Why would she ask him to carry her anyway? He did not understand women. And Pansy. _Oh_ Pansy, really? A boy who was aged sixteen? Were there no better options? He _did not_ understand women.

"I live over there," Hermione said, after a few seconds of quietness as she pointed towards the end of Diagon Alley, quite near where Draco himself was living.

"Thank Merlin," Draco said and sighed.

"What? Don't you like my company?" Hermione asked.

"No that's-"

"Why did you hate me so much at Hogwarts, other than because of my dirty blood?"

"What? Why are you asking this –"

"I mean; I wasn't that bad. You were straight up a bully," Hermione said and continued interrupting him when he tried answering.

"I'm sorry," he quickly said and mentally noted one thing he knew about women, they shouldn't be argued with.

"I don't even think you're Draco Malfoy."

"And why is that?" he inquired as he helped her up the stairs to her place so that she wouldn't fall and break her neck.

"You're kind and he's not."

 _Well that didn't hurt at all, thank you very much._

"I know that I've done more idiotic things than I can count on all my fingers and all my toes but I regret them with every nerve in my body," Draco truthfully said as he stopped in front of her door. She searched her pocket for her keys and as she found them she tapped them with her wand before trying to unlock the door.

"Then you deserve to fight for forgiveness," she replied and accidentally dropped her keys. Draco kneeled down to pluck them up as he noticed she wasn't going to do that herself. He easily and a bit more steadily unlocked the door. He opened the door for her and expected her to go in. Instead she waited there; staring at him and seconds later something darted out from the apartment.

"What the hell is _that_?" Draco exclaimed and watched the orange ball of fur distastefully. Hermione picked the orange ball of fur up and scratched it under its chin lovingly.

"It's my half-kneazle, Crookshanks."

"I thought you had a cat, not a monster," he said and eyed the orange ball of fur carefully. It glared back at him.

"Don't call him that. I actually have a cat as well. As company for him," she replied as she let go of Crookshanks. He walked quickly over to Draco and started nuzzling his leg. "And he likes you! He doesn't like anyone."

"Doesn't that mean that I'm trustworthy or something?"

"Maybe it does. Well… thanks for helping me home Draco, I've actually sobered up enough to thank you even," she said.

"You're welcome and by the way, would you like to go out with me?"

 _Smooth you moron,_ a voice inside him mocked.

"I don't…" she started but Draco interrupted her.

"It's okay, I understand that you don't want to."

"No that's not it, can I owl an answer tomorrow?" she inquired.

"Of course. I'll look forward to it," he replied and gave her a vague smile.

Suddenly she closed the door and Draco walked down the stairs and out onto the streets of Diagon Alley again. He didn't have to walk for long before he stood outside the door to his apartment house. He walked up to second floor and unlocked his door in the same manner as Hermione had, tapping his keys and then unlocking it. He did actually like the idea; it was smart and quite easy to work with.

When he got into his apartment it didn't take long until he flung himself onto his bed without a thought but a few minutes later he admitted to himself that he couldn't sleep in his bed with shoes on. When he was finally naked except for his underwear and lay under his blankets and covers he prepared himself for a night full of terrible dreams. His last comforting thought before he fell asleep was that maybe, maybe, Hermione would owl him tomorrow and agree to go on a date. He whole-heartedly hoped for it.

"Please don't do this," a weak voice whispered, "you don't need to do this." Draco looked down at the girl, wand raised and shook his head.

"You deserve it, you're filthy," he said, voice darker than usual, and with a flick of his wrist the girl screamed and writhed on the dark cold floor. She changed appearances and Draco realised that like always, it was a dream. It didn't help though. He couldn't do anything to stop it. So he watched through his own pair of eyes whilst he tortured child after child until he didn't even know how long he had been doing it for.

"What a good boy you are Draco," his aunt complimented him as she joined in on the cruciatus curse. The woman had given him chills in real life and if that wasn't enough she continued to torment him through death and dreams.

"Thank you," he replied even though he tried not to say the words. He had said them so many times before in the same dream that he probably should have been able to ignore the urge to say them. But he had given up. He would still be torturing the children and laughing at them so why would he resist to say two words.

Suddenly the scenery changed and he forgot that he was dreaming. This time he had to search around in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor before he found the nightmares victim. She lay in a pool of blood, supposedly her own. She didn't quite seem to be alive and yet he noticed that she was by the way her untamed brown hair slowly raised and lowered on her back.

"Wake up," he said and threw a towel on the floor next to her. It felt like it used to feel back when Draco was actually seventeen and it tore him apart. Somehow he knew that it was a dream but it still tore him apart to see the girl who had made one night in seven years peaceful.

 _She'd never go out with you; she knows that you've done this._


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N _So sorry about the late update, been having an absolutely stunning day with an old friend. Hope you all enjoy the chapter! (As always it is betaread by TheresMusicInMyEars and I will never be more grateful!)  
_** _By the way, have you guys done the pottermore sorting test? What did you get? ^^_

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Draco awoke later than usual the next morning but he probably needed the extra rest. He quickly wiped away the nightmares from his thoughts and rolled out of bed. The apartment was cold and moving from his bed onto the floor without adjusting to the temperature, and without a blanket, made him shiver. He almost thought that meeting Hermione the night before had been a dream but he was painfully reminded that he didn't dream beautiful dreams. He plucked a few oranges from the bowl on the table and lay them down next to his sink to take out his orange presser. He put a pot of coffee on the stove when he had finished pressing the oranges and then went into his room to put on a shirt and a pair of trousers. When he walked into the kitchen again he saw that an owl was flapping agitatedly outside his window, he quickly opened it and the bird flew in and sat down on the table. He took the piece of rolled parchment from the owl's right claw and unrolled it quickly. It must be Hermione.

 _Malfoy,_

 _I don't think going out with you would be such a smart thing to do, considering you're my healer and several other reasons. One of the reasons is that you bullied me through all of school; don't you remember that you hate me?_

 _Best wishes,_

 _Granger_

Did she really think that he was the same person he had been as a teenager? What could he possibly do to turn things around? If she would just give him a chance to make it up to her, but not even _that_ , he deserved. He let the owl back out through the window again and was almost startled by the coffee pot whistling loudly.

"Oh for fucks sake what is that?" a voice said and Draco turned around, angry with himself that his wand was laying on the table next to his bed but he couldn't do anything so he picked up the orange juice he had pressed and was about to throw it in the direction of the sound when Theodore Nott walked into his kitchen.

"Theo?" He was surprised to see his friend considering they hadn't spoken in quite a while since Theo had been in Asia on some weird trip they hadn't discussed. Draco turned around to take the coffee pot of the stove since it was still whistling.

"Good to see you too," Theodore replied.

"Coffee?" Draco asked, too surprised that he was there to ask why he was there.

"I'd rather have some tea."

"Help yourself then."

"That isn't very polite," he said and removed a pair of gloves he had on his hands. He pulled a pot from the wall and filled it with tap water before putting it on the stove. Meanwhile Draco was filling a cup with coffee.

"Why does everyone think that they can barge into my home however they want?"

"It was your idea, don't forget that Drakie."

"It's starting to become a tad unsettling to find people here or being ambushed when making morning coffee."

"You should've thought about that when you told us about the floo network connecting our places," he started and sat down at the kitchen table whilst waiting for his tea water, "what's this?"

"Oh it's nothing," Draco replied and took the piece of parchment from his friend´s hands. He didn't really want Theodore to know that he had anything to do with Hermione. Maybe that was a sign that he didn't deserve the girl who had made his nightmares disappear.

"Fine, whatever you say," Theo said. He knew that when Draco said it was nothing it was a lost cause trying to get the truth out of him.

"How was Asia?" Draco asked and sipped his sugared coffee.

"It sucked, the weather was weird and the women were boring."

"As if you've ever found women interesting."

"Shut up. The only woman I've ever found interesting doesn't want me," Theo said to put an end to that statement.

"What did you do over there anyway? I never bothered to ask."

"Business, I met some really old Korean purebloods and in Japan I met an old English one. Avery you know?"

"Avery? Really?" Draco inquired.

"Yeah. At least she said that was her name."

" _She?_ I thought Avery was a man my father's age."

"Yeah me too, turns out her father had ran from England during the first wizarding war and that's the only explanation."

"And she wasn't hot?" Draco asked with a grin. Theo rose from his chair to make the tea he had put on and Draco's eyes were fixed on him.

"She was out of my league, believe me. I don't even think she would have wanted you," Theo said, snickering.

"So, why are you back?" Draco decided to ask instead of arguing about whether or not he would get to that girl. He and Theo used to gamble about it a few years back but it took a bad turn and they hadn't brought it up again. Besides, Draco was only interested in capturing the attention of one woman these days. Not only because it was a challenge but also because he felt as if he truly needed it.

"I'm done over there, I got my acquaintances now so I'm probably going to start establishing my idea."

"Didn't you sell your house to fund the idea from the start?"

"Yeah…"

"Where are you going to stay?"

"Well why do you think I'm here you blond ferret," Theo said as he sat down by the table again, ready to sip his tea.

"To steal my supply of tea I hope," Draco sighed.

"Nope, we'll be sharing a bed for the coming weeks. I hope you like snoring men," the skinny man in front of him said.

"Unfortunately no, but you know what. Pansy and I had a fight so you'll be going to that bloody ministry event with me on Thursday."

"Fair enough. Are we getting hammered?"


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: _I'll start off by telling you how sorry I am that I haven't updated. I've fallen quite ill and it has taken all my energy to be able to do anything at all so this story has been my last priority to be honest. I hope you don't mind and I hope you like this chapter. I'd love to get those delicious reviews as well - they make me happy._

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The weekend passed quickly with the company of Theo and soon a working week rolled out in front of Draco. He didn't really do anything special that week, Clark was gone and everything else he did at St Mungo's was routine. He could probably perform the tasks he had to do blindfolded. He had been plotting a scheme though. He knew that Hermione would be at the ministry event because she was there every year with her bloody friends from school. Potter he could stand; Harry had done things for the world Draco couldn't hate him for. He had even done things for Draco himself that he probably should have thanked him for. But Weasley he couldn't stand. It was as if his temper originated from that red hair of his.

The week continued in the same fashion until come Wednesday evening when Draco found himself making his way through the streets of Diagon Alley, on his way to meet up with his father for their weekly dinner. Usually he liked the dinner they shared but today he was awfully tired. Lucius Malfoy had insisted they not break their traditional dinner though and so Draco soon joined him at an Italian restaurant. Irony liked following him.

"I'm looking for a table reserved for the name Malfoy," Draco said and leaned towards the desk where a woman in her thirties was standing. She threw a big white smile at him and looked down into some sort of book.

"Yes, it's by the booth over there," she started and Draco thought of how much she sounded like that Alejandro type. "Follow me."

She led him to the table his father was sitting and when he sat down in front of him he noticed that a girl, some years younger than Draco was sitting in the corner of the booth. The waitress lay down a menu for Draco and turned around with a glittering smile.

"Draco, I'd like you to meet Vanessa, she's part of the campaign to run as a minister," his father told him. Draco peered at the girl again; she could barely be eighteen but didn't really look the part as she was wearing a expensive looking dress, one his mother would've preferred. Around her neck an expensive-looking jewel was hanging and the smug look on her face told Draco that yes, she was a proper dame.

"Pleasure to meet you," Draco said and nodded in the girl's direction. Shaking hands over the table wasn't really the proper thing to do in such a situation.

"The same, of course," Vanessa responded with an accent. Draco couldn't make out what accent it was but he hoped he wouldn't have to ask.

"She's an aspiring politician from Russia," his father said, as if Draco had asked him. He was curious of course but it wasn't polite to ask questions like that straight out of nowhere. They could be misinterpreted.

"I see, so how are you planning to help my father in this campaign. Any plans yet?"

"We were conversing and talked about you," she answered. Draco sipped a glass of water that had magically appeared in front of him, likely thanks to the waitress who had just left their table, and listened to Vanessa continue, "If you got involved romantically with someone on the lower levels of wizarding society it could help us appeal to a bigger group of wizards and witches."

Draco choked on his water.

"You can't expect me to do this, father," Draco blurted, surprise painting his features. Had this been why Lucius accepted his break-up with Astoria?

"Well of course I can, it benefits us both. Of course when I'm elected minister you can end any relationship you choose to have," Lucius told him.

"If you for any second think that I am willing to be your puppet once again, you are utterly wrong."

"Draco, that is not what I meant."

"I don't even understand how you can make this seem like an offer," Draco said, set down his glass of water and stood up. He looked down on his father and the Russian woman, no longer looking neither eighteen or like his mother but merely a misfit in the current situation.

"Please, reconsider this Draco," Lucius said with a pleading look in his eyes. Draco brushed some invisible dust off his arm and nodded politely at the Russian in the corner and blinked firmly at his father before quickly leaving.

"You're home early," Theodore said when Draco stepped into the apartment. He flung himself onto the coach next to Theo and snapped his fingers so that the corner lamp would light up the room but nothing happened. Oh right, Astoria had stolen it. Damn bitch.

"Yeah, my father suggested I would play puppet for his minister campaign," Draco told Theo who folded his book page and lay it down on the table, it was still bright enough that he could read without having to turn on a lamp.

"Good old days, huh?" Theo said and gave Draco a sympathising look. Draco nodded and kept his eyes trained on the same spot on the table.

"I just thought that he would've evolved some feelings after everything that went down during the war. At least my mother is normal," Draco muttered. "Did my father ever think about how I felt? Oh no, he just thought it was a normal thing to do, toss your child at the Dark Lord's feet!"

"You still despise him because of that?" Theo asked and moved closer to Draco in an attempt to comfort him.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive him for it," Draco admitted whilst his eyes were starting to tear. "I try and I fake and I'm polite but -" He stopped talking and silent tears escaped his grey eyes to swiftly run across his cheeks. Theo pulled him into a hug.

"Hey, it's gonna be all right," Theo said soothingly. "Do you want some tea?"

"Yes, please." Draco replied, though the answer was muffled thanks to his sobbing. While Theo rose and walked to the kitchen, Draco pulled a pillow into his arms instead. If there was anyone he loved in this world except his mother, it was Theo. The boy had been an extra hand whenever Draco had asked and sometimes Draco thought that he underestimated the youngest Nott. The boy returned and handed Draco a perfectly hot cup of tea and once again sat down next to him, tugged the pillow out of the boys hold and put his arms around the pale blond. His best friend.


	19. Chapter 19

"Can you help me with the tie?" Theodore asked Draco, who was putting his shirt on behind him. They had split the bed in two but the room was still awfully small when two people were trying to get dressed at the same time.

"Of course," Draco said, before buttoning the last button of his white shirt and hopping over his bed to help Theodore with the tie. "Did you only wear a hoodie while you were in Asia?"

"I didn't have to wear a tie and a shirt with all the girls I had in my bed, the tie was around their wrists and the shirt was on the floor," he said with a laugh.

"Oh for Merlin's sake I did not need to know that," Draco said as he finished fixing the tie.

"I wonder if this Avery girl will show up, she seemed determined to visit England soon when I last saw her," Theo continued while Draco was fixing his own tie.

"I thought you were still trying with…" Draco started but Theo interrupted him.

"No, she wrote and told me she was utterly busy with some Italian guy," Theo said and sighed.

"But you still love her."

"Well it's impossible so I don't see why I would even bother to try anymore," Theo complained.

"I'm going to stop you right there my friend," Draco started. "The Italian guy she is "busy with"? He's only sixteen years old. Some brat named Alejandro what-ever-his-name-may-be."

"Oh?" Theo let out a surprised snicker and turned to face Draco with raised eyebrows.

"Your chances are getting higher by the second, I'd say."

Theo grimaced and shook his head. "Her letter was pretty straight forward."

"Why?" Draco asked. _And what letter?_

"She asked me to attend her wedding," Theo smiled bitterly and put a robe around his shoulders.

"What the hell? When did you get the letter?"

"Saturday."

"What the hell?" Draco muttered, feeling rather shocked. "How do we stop this?"

"You mean we should stop it?"

"Yes! I bet this is Mrs Parkinson's work. Pansy wouldn't marry a guy who is eight years younger than her. Would she?"

"I think she can do whatever she wants," Theo shrugged.

"We need a plan, but first we need to attend this Ministry Event," Draco said and threw a smug smile at Theo before he dipped a comb in water, lifting it and combing through his hair so that it would be perfect all evening.

"Who are you getting pretty for baby Draco?" Theo asked as he watched the blond boy beautify himself.

"Your mother Theo," he said with a snicker that made Theo roll his eyes so hard he fell onto his bed.

"What about a serious answer?"

"Am I not allowed to look good once in a while?"

"You don't even want to go to this event, do you think you can fool me Draco?" Theo snickered and sat up to watch the pale man as he put down the comb and corrected his tie once more. He grinned at Theo through the mirror and raised an eyebrow.

"Let's go, I'm hungry so I don't want to miss the dinner," Draco said and turned around as Theo stood up.

"Fine, but I'll find out who the mystery woman is because I can read you," Theo said as they left for the living room. Draco grinned in front of him, maybe Theo would figure it out and maybe it would help Draco. He knew what Pansy's reaction would be and he hoped Theo was more reasonable.

The ministry event was held in a hall decorated in light colours of blue and green and the globes that were soaring around in the air seemed to emit a light as warm as the sun itself. This year, Draco thought, they had truly made an effort to make this seem like an event worth attending. He knew better and was just considering leaving for a night on his sofa when Theo nudged him slightly which made him look at the man.

"What?" He asked as if he knew Theo was going to say something. Theo's eyes were fixed on something behind Draco and he had to spin around fully to notice what it was. At first Draco didn't notice anything strange but after a few seconds he realized that they were both looking at Blaise Zabini, a man neither of them were particularly fond of.

"Let's get away from him as fast as possible," Draco said and hooked one of Theo's arms in his own. They walked over to a round table where drinks stood on top of each other in several levels. They grabbed one each and sat down next to each other at a long table where food would be served in just a couple of minutes. In front of them stood blank nametags that magically started to show their names instead of being blank so that they could find their places again if they left them.

"I thought Zabini lived in Mexico," Draco questioned as he looked far into the crowds of people to look at the man.

"I've heard he came back to get married," Theo shrugged and sipped his drink.

"Really, why would he marry someone, is there even someone who would want to marry him?" Draco snorted but completely forgot about the subject when he saw Hermione Granger, arm hooked with Harry Potter. She wore a knee-long cream coloured dress that fit her perfectly; it wasn't too much of a ball dress either but just slightly fancy. Not something a prude would wear which made him like it even more. Somewhere in the back of his head he could hear Theo talk.

"She certainly is quite the gold digger; don't you think?"

"No, how can you say that?" Draco said without realizing that they weren't talking about the Gryffindor he had been staring at, he turned to look at Theo who had raised his eyebrow at Draco's statement, which made Draco realize what he had done.

"Because it's Blaise, no one would want him for who he is, right?"

"Probably not, if his taste in clothes is as bad as his personality. My guess is that it is some hideous girl who doesn't know the difference between Twilfitts & Tatting's and Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions," Draco said with a snicker and took a few sips of his drink. Theo laughed and they looked towards Blaise again since they had nothing better to do. Suddenly a woman appeared next to him, hugged the man tightly and gave him a huge smile.

"That's the woman I met, that's the Avery woman," Theo said. "I didn't know she was acquaintances with Blaise."

"I don't think they're just friends Theo," Draco snickered when the pair kissed passionately. Theo sighed.

"Damn, there goes my shot at flirting with her," he complained.

"I thought you said she was too good for even me the other night, and here we see her engaged to Blaise Zabini. My guess is that she was only too good for you."

"Oh shut up."

The evening went on and after Draco had finally enjoyed the dinner, he and Theo started to locate the event bar so that they could actually have fun that evening. They ordered two large glasses of Pure Malt Whiskey. They had almost downed half the glasses when Draco spotted a page-cut girl dancing on the floor with none other than the man he and Theo had discussed.

"Pansy is over there," he said and before he could end the sentence Theo's head had swung around to look where Draco was looking.

"Oh that little bastard, I hate him," was the only thing Theo could say.

"Go steal his dance," Draco said encouragingly.

"Can I really do that? What if he hits me? What if _she_ hits me?"

"Don't make me push you of your chair Theo." At these words Theodore hurriedly stood up, but then he hesitated for a second.

"Drink up," Draco said and handed the man his whiskey. What Theo didn't know was that Draco had also poured his own whiskey into the glass. He downed it quickly and started walking towards the two. Draco looked after him and when he got to them Pansy jumped out of Blaise's grip and hugged Theo. She nodded happily whereas Blaise shook his head discreetly and started walking towards Draco. Damn. Draco hoped the poorly dressed man wouldn't try conversing with him.

"He's still in love with her I see," Blaise said when he sat down next to Draco, on Theo's stool.

"Zabini," Draco said politely.

"Malfoy," Blaise answered.

"I heard you got engaged," Draco said and held a finger up towards the man who was handing out drinks. Soon another Pure Malt Whiskey stood in front of him.

"Yes, I did. How is love life going for you?"

"I got rid of Astoria, waiting for someone who isn't brain-dead."

"That wasn't the smartest thing you've done." Blaise said to which Draco glared in response. He looked completely sincere.

"I'm afraid you are not in a position to tell me whether what I do is smart or not," he replied and sipped his whiskey.

"She was hot, you could have easily had her doing anything you wanted," Blaise chuckled.

"If you like her so much then maybe you should take her as your wife too," Draco coldly grunted. He then downed his whiskey and left the bar. He couldn't stand the man.


	20. Chapter 20

Every year during the ministry event there would be half an hour of tributes to random people that other casual people choose to praise. Each year Harry Potter got at least one tribute and some years Hermione got one too and likewise with the redhead. Draco never got a tribute. He wasn't exactly expecting one because he hadn't deserved to have one. So when his name loud and clearly was one of the honourable people this night not only he became silent, but the whole room seemed to pay more attention towards the man who was about to speak of this achievement Draco apparently was getting praised for.

"Almost ten years ago I was forced by lunatics to drink a potion, against my will this potion took effect on me and before I could drink an antidote this potion had scarred me for years to come. During that time I thought I would have to live with it for my entire life." Said Clark, the man standing on the miniature stage. He had the total attention of everyone in the room and while he took a deep breath to continue only glasses being held by clinking rings could be heard.

"I accepted my fate, some days were harder and other were easier. It was an insanity potion you see, so I could never again live by myself, at home." Clark told them all and sipped a glass that looked like it contained water.

"For many years during my stay at St. Mungo's nothing happened, I consumed potions on a regular basis to feel a little better. But for eight years everyday was like the day before. I never dreamed of it changing. Then one day this great healer told me that he were going to study my illness and perhaps be able to brew a cure for me. Recently this potion started to help and now I almost have my old life back. I couldn't thank healer Draco Malfoy more for the support, help and chance of life he has given me. But I give him this. Thank you." Clark smiled and searched the room for Draco and when he found him he raised his glass in a salute. Draco responded in the same manner and hoped that he did not look far too touched by the tribute. His mother was the first to be by his side and congratulate him on the wonderful work, a kiss on the cheek and a loving hug saw to it that she meant every word she had said.

"Excellent job, Malfoy." Ginny told him when she went by and because of this he earned a nod from Potter himself who was by Ginny's side.

From having stood there with Theo as if they didn't exist among all the heroes of the war to being granted a tribute.

He had a hard time feeling as if he really deserved it. Clark was, more than he had been for ten long years, as he ought to be. There were no outbursts from the man or ill-tempered behaviours anymore.

Theo hugged him. Pansy threw a glance at him from across the room, next to Blaise, obviously happy for him but not willing to tell him. A few moments passed and soon everything was back to normal.

"It was a good thing, what you did for Clark." A woman's voice said to him. He turned and met the brown eyes of Hermione Granger. She smiled gently towards him.

"Thank you. But I can assure you that without that willpower of his he wouldn't have gotten here. It's not all thanks to me."

Theo lay an hand on Draco's shoulder, "oh for Merlin's sake. Take a compliment for once in your life Draco," he said. "Do you want something from the bar?"

"Would you like a drink?" Draco asked Hermione and she looked into the crowd for someone but then met his eyes again.

"Just one." She said. And he knew why.

"I'll have a firewhiskey thank you." Theodore told the bartender. Draco knew that Theo would get far too drunk for Theo to be able to handle on his own. Whilst waiting for his whiskey he noticed how Theo's gaze searched, yet again, for Pansy. The Avery woman had found Pansy's interest and they were, what it looked like, complimenting the others nails.

"What would you like to drink?" Draco asked the witch who was on his side when the bartender had helped Nott to his order.

"A butterbeer will do me just fine, thank you."

"Two glasses of butterbeer then." He said to the man across the bar. Soon both of them tasted the brew of their youth.

"Oh, this reminds me of cold winters down in Hogsmeade." He said and closed his eyes to savour the feeling.

"You haven't tasted it since?" She asked. He shook his head.

"You have?"

"Well whenever I catch up with Ron or Harry we always have a glass which is quite frequently." She stated and seemed surprised with what she had just told him.

"It does taste better than firewhiskey I must confess," Draco said and looked at Theo and his glass of the fiery liquid.

"What?" Theo said and held the glass protectively to his chest. "It's not the whiskeys fault."

"When was the last time you drank butterbeer then?" Hermione asked Theo.

"Oh I don't think I ever did. Madam Rosmerta was so charmed by my younger self that she secretly handed me the firewhiskey." He proclaimed with a proud expression.

"That is the worst lie I've ever heard." Hermione said and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Are you calling me a liar Miss Granger?" Theo questioned quite seriously. Nevertheless Draco started to snicker so Hermione did not take him seriously, at all.

"We'll have to go to Hogsmeade someday and ask her then." Theo huffed.

"Next weekend?" Hermione asked.

"It's a date." Theo contently said and nodded firmly. He looked at Theo with a raised eyebrow but Theo's eyes had found something more interesting. "Heads up Draco."

"What?" He asked and when he turned to see what Theo had warned him about he let out a sigh.

Astoria. With a lamp in her claws.


	21. Chapter 21

_A/N: I´ve actually had this chapter completed for quite a while but I haven't written anything beyond this point. I recently started reading a lot of Dramione again though so might be in the mood to get some hours down on this story. Thanks for the reviews so far. They make me happy._

"I've told you a million times that I just don't have any feelings for you. There is nothing wrong with you."

"Why am I so unlikeable then?"

"You aren't."

"That's what you are saying."

A sigh could be heard followed by a loud huff when Draco fell backward onto his couch. He rubbed at his temples before he looked up to see if the agonizing woman was still there. She was.

"It's dark in here." Astoria said.

"You stole my lamp."

"You didn't deserve to have it."

"What is it you want from me Astoria? You've already humiliated me by throwing my lamp on me in front of a whole charity community. Daphne told me that you did not even like me and you took my furniture when you left."

"Well you took advantage of me when you broke up with me."

"So that is what you want. An apology?" Draco said and when he thought about it he had been quite mischievous that evening. Proof that he was a Slytherin?

"Not that it would help… but yes."

"I'm sorry then. Will you please not throw any more lamps at me?" He pleaded.

"Fine." Astoria replied. "I'm sorry about the lamp."

"Friends?" He asked. She nodded.

"Tea?" Theo asked as he emerged from the kitchen.

"No. I'll be on my way now." Astoria said whilst Draco nodded as he met Theos gaze. "I'm going to buy you a new lamp Draco."

"No need for that. We're going shopping next weekend, me and Theo." Draco explained which was met by a raised eyebrow from the girl who was on her way out.

"Are you two gay?" She asked which made Theo laugh.

Before Theo could say anything Draco hurriedly said, "Theo is as gay as they come. Me however? I just like to go shopping for expensive, a bit too luxurious lamps to be thrown at me by former girlfriends."

"Goodbye." Astoria said, walked out the door, and left.

"So… Tea?" Theo snickered and leaned against the doorway as he eyed Dracos movement from the door he had locked towards the kitchen where freshly brewed tea stood ready for two.

It was late. At least past midnight and outside rain fell heavy over the streets of London. The windows in the kitchen were open and the two friends warmed their hands on their cups. A corner lamp was the only source of light in the room and their tea smelt freshly of citrus. Or was it lime?

"Why do you think Pansy is back?" Asked Theo and Draco met his gaze. He shrugged.

"I think she came to a realisation about the Italian boy." Draco suggested. "Why don't you go with her on a shopping spree and offer to hold her bags?"

"That's like committing suicide." Theo gasped and then followed with taking a big sip from his tea.

"I would not volunteer, believe me, but I do know that she likes to shop when her relationships end. So if she wants to shop with your help you will surely find out. You will also have to listen to her endless rants about why or what made the boy so bad and probably all of the details." Draco said and waited for a comment from Theo. "Don't you want to know all of the details about the sixteen year old Italian guy who looked like he was reminiscing Elvis?"

"To hell with it." Theo finally said and looked out the window. A change of subject was at hand. "It's raining."

"You're nervous." Draco implied.

"She will just move on to the next wealthy and socialised man. Or boy if that is what's going to catch her attention."

"You haven't even tried."

"I know her too well for me to even believe that I have chance."

"Merlin knows even I tried to ask a girl out and got a blatant no for an answer."

"What. You already found someone after Astoria? Who?" He asked and stared straight down the empty abyss that was Draco's soul.

"Stop that!" He yelped and looked away from the stare. Theo snickered. Clearly content with his little show.

"You know what Draco? Pansy would have agreed to date you. For no other reason than that you were her greatest idol growing up. She was madly in love with you and when you were busy with other things in school she would go to me and give me some of her time to rant about you."

"So you've heard enough rants for a lifetime?" Draco shrugged. "Did you ever tell her or imply what you feel?"

Theo looked out the window yet again. "I didn't. Because I know her."

"I know her better. And I am pretty sure she would at least go out with you."

"I'll go shop with her." Theo said but a smirk on his smug face revealed that there was a cost. "But only if you are able to get the girl who declined to date you to do that."

Draco looked down his cup, sipped the very warm tea carefully, before he answered. "I'll just go with you to Hogsmeade next weekend." He won a whistle from Theo.

"You are trying to make Hermione Granger to go out on a date with you?" He asked but then answered his own question. "I think she'd rather have drowned in the Great Lake and dated the giant squid. Would she even forgive you? I can remember everything you did to her and some of those things were just plain cruel."

"Wow thanks mate, that really upped my spirits." Draco huffed and something in his stomach grew tight. He had been a foul person.

"Did someone make a bet with you? I mean you hated that girl through all of school."

"I'm pretty sure we all grew up somewhere along the way." He said in an attempt to untie that knot somewhere inside him.

"Except Pansy." Theo declared, trying to ease up his friends darkening mood.

"At least her heels grew." Draco snickered and the two boys soon talked about old memories and past times. Time flew by and then there was _that_ time that neither of them spoke of. Somehow _silence spoke louder than words_.


End file.
